The Criminal in the Asylum
by SimOph52
Summary: Zack Addy is in the Asylum, bored out of his mind. He meets a fellow patient and things start getting...EMAIL ME IF CHAPTER 23 IS NOT WORKING. I WILL EMAIL YOU A COPY
1. Chapter 1

He felt physically sick, just as he had everyday since he arrived at this mental health facility. Although he had rationalized his actions previously, it seemed as though the longer it had been since he killed him, the more juvenile his motives had become. Now, he was left with the image of his blood stained hands and the lobbyist's vacant stare continually replaying itself in his head and he could not foresee ever being able to escape his guilt. He could now understand why people chose to commit suicide, which used to be a concept far beyond his comprehension.

He was sitting in the common room at a metal table gazing through the window at a perfectly sunny day attempting to keep his mind distracted. However, the shrieking, moaning and unintelligible conversations of others in the room kept his mind from drifting off, as though it was another aspect of his punishment. Without warning, a young girl forcefully commandeered the seat across from his, blocking his view of the window. Ignoring him, she opened a book entitled "Ghosts" and began reading. Zack studied the cover of the book unable to comprehend why anyone would read it.

"Ghosts don't exist." He stated.

The girl jumped at the sound of his voice, "Holy crap, dude! I thought you were a vegetable!"

"I had no intentions to frighten you." He said, looking at her quizzically.

"Well then, what were your intentions?"

"It was merely to state that the book that you are reading is irrelevant and dated." Zack said.

The girl paused for a moment and flipped her book back and forth, observing the cover. She shrugged, "Looks new to me!" She giggled.

"You have clearly misunderstood my meaning. What I was attempt…"

"I know what you meant. I was making a joke," she lowered her voice, "Do you know what a joke is?"

"Yes, however, I didn't find it particularly funny. I also didn't find your last statement funny either."

"Fair enough." She said, rolling her eyes. With that, she slouched back into her chair and resumed reading. Zack exhaled loudly, still unable to see out of the window. Without looking away from her book, the girl asked, "What do you want?"

When he didn't answer her question she peered over at him. He was craning his neck and putting his body in awkward positions in order to be able to see around her. She slammed her book shut and rose from her seat. Zack smirked, thinking that he would now be left alone, until he realized that she was leaning down next to his chair with her nose an inch away from his. She grabbed the side of his chair and with a quick jerk, pulled both him and his chair two feet over. She smiled and strode back to her seat victoriously, leaving Zack bewildered.

"You don't appear to have any psychopathic tendencies." Zack stated.

"This, coming from a psychopath…" she smiled at him and quietly giggled to herself.

"I am not a psychopath. I am emotionally disturbed and suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. That is when a person goes…"

"Everyone knows what PTSD is. Don't think you're special just because you know the name of a psychological disorder."

"I don't think that I'm special just for that. I'm special for numerous reasons."

She looked at him astonished and in a mocking tone said, "That's right! Because you're mommy's special boy!"

"You are very defensive."

"And you are really annoying. I am obviously trying to read. See? Book. Eyes. Reading…"

Zack stared at her as she went back into her book, obviously perturbed. He shook his head and continued to look out the window.

A moment later, the girl let out a growl, "Damn you! You got me so upset, that I can't concentrate."

"Perhaps that is because one requires brain, as well as a book and eyes for reading." Zack said flatly, still staring out the window. When there was no response, he looked over at her and saw the look of shock on her face, "I'm sorry. That was extremely rude, wasn't it?"

"It's fine." She said, letting her face drop, "Everyone in here has the right to be a little defiant at one time or another. My name is Amy."

"I'm Zack."

"It's nice to meet you, Zack."

"So, why are you in here?" he asked.

She looked at him, and then looked down at the book in her hands, "I… have some… issues." She giggled, "Well, I guess that is putting it mildly."

"You don't have to answer if you don't feel comfortable."

She smiled, "How about you?"

"I killed a man."

"What?" she said sounding astonished.

"I killed a man." He repeated.

"And they put you in a mental health facility rather than jail?"

"Like I said, I have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

"Well, who did you kill?"

Zack sighed and rested his head in his hand, massaging his eyes, "I'd rather not say."

"Sounds juicy." She said, turning her body toward him.

"What?"

"Ugh, never mind."

Zack looked at her puzzled by her lack of disdain. Virtually every person who knew about his situation immediately judged him or told him that he would rot in the bowls of hell for all eternity, which didn't seem to bother him considering there was no inferno of doom created for the sole purpose of punishing the evil. Amy however, didn't seem to be the least bit bothered by what he had done, she looked intrigued.

"I am surprised by your lack luster reaction to what I have done." He stated.

She smiled and rolled her eyes, "Well, there are plenty of people here who have murdered more than one person in their day. While I don't believe what you did is right, you are one of the few non-psychotic people my age in here who I could potentially fill my desperately lonely days with." She said over-dramatizing the last few words.

"You are a very strange person." He said, looking at her sideways.

"Coming from you, I believe that that is a good thing."

They both laughed.

"How long have you been here?" Zack asked.

"About five years."

"Five years? You look to be about twenty two years old; that would mean you were approximately seventeen when you were brought here?"

"What are you, a psychic?"

"There is no such thing." He stated.

She tilted her head, waiting for him to make the realization. After a moment, he sighed, rolled his eyes and let out a mechanical sounding laugh. She wasn't sure whether the laugh was genuine or mocking her, but either way, she accepted it.


	2. Chapter 2

Dr. Brennan stood at the examination table looking over remains.

"What can you tell me about our victim?" she asked.

"Male: approximately twenty to twenty-three years old. There is degradation to all joints suggesting Rheumatoid Arthritis. Approximately five to seven years ago, he sustained a break to his right tibia." He said.

"Zack."

"Yes, Doctor Brennan?"

"Zack!"

He suddenly jolted back into his reality. He had finally been able to slip his mind into an altered state of reality only to be brought back too soon. He turned to look at the person who had woken him up. Hodgins.

"Hey Zack." Hodgins said.

"Hodgins!" he replied excitedly, "How are you?"

"As good as I can be, considering the situation." There was an awkward silence between the two of them, "so, fancy digs." Hodgins said looking around the prison-like common room.

"They're awful, Hodgins. Is your vision impaired? Did something blow up in your face?"

"Oh, you mean besides the bomb you set off in the lab? And I mean that both literally and metaphorically."

Zack lowered his head, realizing that he should consider what he says before speaking out loud. Hodgins grabbed a chair and pulled it up next to Zack, he sat and leaned against his knees, "I knew, Zack." He stated, looking him in the eyes.

"What?"

"I figured it out, before Booth, before Brennan, before anyone else."

"And you didn't turn me in?"

Hodgins sighed, "I knew in the pit of my stomach that it was you, but there was a part of me... that was hoping that it wasn't, or at least hoping that they wouldn't find out, so that I could talk some sense into you."

"I'm sorry."

"Are you really sorry, Zack? I'll be honest, I'm not sure you understand the gravity of this situation. You are wasting your gift, man. You just screwed up the rest of your life." He said, beginning to raise his voice.

"If I say that I'm sorry, then I am sorry. I don't say things that I don't mean."

"For such a brilliant young doctor, you are one huge idiot."

Zack scoffed, "You have been talking to me about conspiracies ever since we first met."

"Conspiracy theories, Zack! They are called theories for a reason! A four year old could have told you that."

"You believe that they are accurate."

Hodgins abruptly stood in disbelief, "Are you trying to tell me that you killed a man based on my belief systems, as in, you did it for my benefit?"

"Over time, your belief system has become mine as well. I didn't do it for you; I did it for human kind." He said.

Hodgins shook his head in frustration, "Anyways," he said in digression, seating himself back down next to Zack.

"Did anyone else come with you?" Zack said looking hopeful.

"Not everyone is as forgiving as I am."

"How is Doctor Brennan?" Zack asked.

"Not good. She's miserable. She thinks that she let you down; as though she were part of the reason that you strayed from the path of moral righteousness."

"I must admit that she seemed to take it more personally than I had originally surmised."

"We are all taking this personally. What happened to you, Zack? What happened to the innocent kid who used to refuse to kill bugs, each of whom he named? The guy that I used to race beetles with for a dollar at a time? The one whose innocence was admittedly endearing and who was was eager to help in the fight against criminals?" Hodgins paused looking down at the floor. Zack stared at him, realizing the amount of damage he had caused in his friend. Hodgins shook his head and leaned into him, searching in Zack's eyes for a minute shred of what used to be his best friend, "Was Iraq really that bad?"

Zack looked away from Hodgins and back out the window. They sat in silence until finally Hodgins stood, "Well, it was nice seeing you."

"Thank you for coming." Zack said, still looking out the window. Hodgins patted him on the back and walked away. Zack turned uncomfortably in his chair, obviously not happy with the conversation that just occurred.

Amy plopped down in the recently vacated chair, looking behind them to watch Hodgins walk away, "Who was that?"

"My friend."

"Oh?" she said, fishing for more details, "Are you okay?

"Physically? Yes, I suppose."

"I was going more for emotionally okay, or intellectually if you prefer."

"Intellectually, I am exceptional."

"And emotionally?"

"Stable."

"That doesn't sound good."

"It's fine."

"Yeah, but stable isn't good."

He turned to look at her, "I am in a mental health facility. Stable in this environment is, in fact, good… comparatively." He motioned to the other occupants of the room, who were evidently not stable.

"Mmmm… good point." She said, releasing a giggle, "So, you seem super smart. What is up with that?"

"I don't know what you mean by, 'what is up with that?", however, I am a… was a forensic anthropologist at the Jeffersonian institution. I have two doctorates, one in forensic anthropology and the other in engineering. I also have an extremely high I.Q., but I don't like to boast."

Amy let out a loud laugh, "Yeah, I can see that!"

Zack looked at her, straight-faced. She continued laughing at his comment, and soon, he found the humor in it as well, and began to laugh with her.


	3. Chapter 3

That night, Zack was in his room silently staring at the ceiling and listening to the soft sounds of crickets come through the wall of his room. He found it peaceful, which was a relief considering where he was. He rarely had a moment of silence which used to be a large part of his everyday life. Zack relished in spending time in his dark, quiet apartment above Hodgins garage. Occasionally he would spend his time watching television, reading and using the internet, but mostly he would recite facts about pending cases he was working on trying to scour his mind for missing information. He found comfort in his solitude; while spending time with other humans brought him a sense of happiness, the overwhelming satisfaction of a job well done far surpassed any other amount of comfort he had ever found outside the confines of the institution's walls. Fundamentally, contact with others is a large part of being human. Perhaps, he thought, if he had spent more time with others, he wouldn't be in the predicament that he was currently in. There was a rustling at his door and before he had time to slide off of his bed, Amy quickly lurched through the door and closed it quietly.

"Hey Zack, what is going on?" she whispered.

"What are you doing here? It is against the rules, and how did you get out of your room and get into mine?" he said, sounding upset, but his face revealing that he was truthfully ecstatic.

"I came for fun. It may be against the rules, but I got a set of keys to the building. When I first got here, an orderly well, slept with me, and so I blackmailed him for a set." She said dangling the set of keys in his face. She laughed and immediately covered her mouth due to the overwhelming echo in the room. Zack shushed her, smiling and ran to the door to see if anyone became alert to her presence.

"Well, I'm sorry that the situation invariably compromised your self respect, but I have to admit that having a set of keys is…"

"Stellar?" she interrupted smirking at his wide-eyed expression.

"I guess that word could be used in this instance. Yes, it is stellar indeed."

"So, you want to go for a walk?" she said raising her eyebrows.

They snuck into the hallway and quickly ran towards the end, opposite of where the guards were stationed. The only issues that they had was that they were wearing socks on a very uncharacteristically well waxed floor, so as they ran they were loosing their balance and attempting not to fall out of fear of being caught. Zack began to think that perhaps, with Amy, being locked up in a mental institution would not be nearly as awful as he originally thought. In fact, it seemed as though all of the assumptions he had been making since he came back from Iraq were wrong as well. He used to be able to read situations very well based upon probability, but something happened over seas that made his judgment less trustworthy, and he was starting to believe that he belonged here.

They made it to the end of the hallway and she took the set of keys out of her pocket and fished one out. She forced the key into the lock of a door and turned it. The door opened, and she pushed Zack inside and quickly followed suit, closing the door and locking it from the inside. They walked down a set of rickety metal stairs, where Zack realized that they were now in the boiler room.

"No one comes down here in the middle of the night," She said, shoving the keys back into her pocket, "so we have free reign of the place." She pulled her hair up to the top of her head and then releasing it, letting her curls cascade down around her face and shoulders.

Zack didn't notice her subtle flirtation, "Hodgins love it down here."

"Who?"

"The man you saw me with earlier today. He works with particulates, bugs, and unidentifiable substances."

"Sounds… disgusting." She said.

Zack smiled at her, "Without disgusting things, we would be able to appreciate beauty. You might not realize it, but disgusting things are beautiful in their own sense."

"Deep" she laughed, "really deep."

"I'm not particularly versed in the aesthetics of language. I intended for that to sound more beautiful and thought provoking than it did." He smiled at her and chuckled at himself. He walked around the boiler room observing all of the equipment.

"It's okay, I still think you're cool."

Zack stopped and turned to her, "You… you think I'm cool?"

"Huh? Yeah, why not?"

He smiled, "No one has ever said that about me. Ever."

"Aww. Well, you are totally chill in my book."

"I'm not cold."

"No, Zack… nevermind." She waved a dismissive hand at him.

Zack shrugged his shoulders and continued looking around the room, "Do you smell that?" he said turning to where Amy had been standing, but she was no longer there, "Amy?" He walked slowly through a door across from the staircase into a pitch black room, "Amy?"

"BOO!" she screamed coming up from behind him. Zack jumped into the air and letting out a small screech. He turned, glaring at her, "Where did you go?"

"I was underneath the stairs. You walked right past me."

"Oh… do you have a light of any kind?" he asked.

"No. But I did see a tool box under the stairs, let me go look."

She ran back into the other room. Zack tried to have his eyes adjust to the darkness, but the light from the other room was piercing into this one, making his attempt unsuccessful. He heard Amy run up behind him, "I found a flashlight."

Zack twisted the flashlight on and moved the beam around the room, "This must be where they store excess cleaning supplies." He dropped his hand holding the flashlight and turned to her, "Maybe we should get back to our rooms, they'll probably be checking in on us soon." Amy's face seemed contorted as she was apparently not paying the slightest bit of attention to what he said. He watched as she lifted her arm and pointed to where the beam of his flashlight had landed. There was a noticeable red stain on the floor. Zack walked toward it and observed the stains. Amy followed right behind him and grabbed onto his arm, clearly frightened about the possibilities. Quickly, he grabbed some toilet paper off of a nearby shelf and wiped the stain with it, collecting a small amount of the substance. He folded the piece of tissue and tucked it in his pocket.

"It's definitely dried blood." Zack stated.

"How do you know that?" she questioned.

"This is what I do, Amy." Zack made a face of annoyance and corrected himself, "It's what I did."

She put her hand on his shoulder in compassion, "Well, how long do you think it has been here?"

"I would venture to say approximately three to five years, but I can't be sure of that without the proper equipment." Zack lowered his voice and began talking to himself out loud, "Why would anyone kill someone here and not bother to clean up the blood?"

Amy stared at him while he worked. She found it fascinating and began to wish that she had met him outside of this facility, as two regular people. She straightened up and looked around the room, and she noticed something on the wall. It was drywall that was unsealed. It seemed as though someone had tried to hide it merely by placing a book shelf in front of it. She tapped Zack on the shoulder and pointed it out to him.

Moving the shelf slightly over, Zack grabbed the sheet rock and pulled it open carefully, revealing the remains of a woman in her late teens: about sixteen to eighteen years old.

Amy jumped back at the sight and covered her mouth, "Oh my goodness."

"There appears to be severe damage to the frontal bone, most likely the cause of death." The statement made him smile, feeling as though he was back in the lab, or on a crime scene with Doctor Brennan.

"What are we supposed to do, Zack?"

"I have to collect evidence." He said, and began to examine the body. He reached up to touch the eye sockets when Amy grabbed his hand, "What are you doing?" he exclaimed.

"Zack, you can't touch anything."

"Why not?"

"We're in a mental institution." She said in a tone that portrayed the intensity of the situation, "It is the middle of the night, we are currently breaking the rules with a set of keys that I blackmailed an orderly for. You have killed, and I, well… with my track record it will look like I am the Bonnie to your Clyde. We need to get out of here and back to our respective rooms."

"I see your point" Zack stated. He closed the wall back up and moved the shelf back to the position in which he found it. Amy took some more toilet paper and wiped the shelf down to eliminate his finger prints. Amy and Zack moved back to the other room and under the stairs to replace the flashlight that they had borrowed.

The door to the boiler room swung open and they heard footsteps coming down into the room. Zack and Amy backed themselves into a dark corner in hopes of not being seen. The man turned on his flashlight and walked into the room that he and Amy had just left.

Zack looked at Amy and made a motion to move quickly and quietly back up the stair case. Amy went first followed by Zack creeping up the steps attempting to make them creek as little as possible, if at all.

"Amy." Zack barely whispered. He motioned for her to walk on the outside part of the step because it made less noise considering that the center of a step wears more than the outside thus lending itself to more sturdy support. Half way up the steps, Zack looked back at the scene and realized that the man had opened up the wall that they had been staring into only moments beforehand.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Amy found Zack immediately

The next day, Amy found Zack immediately. He was in the same spot he always was in. She pulled a chair up very close to him so that they could talk without anyone being able to eavesdrop.

"Hey." She said grimly.

"How are you doing?" He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder awkwardly.

"Not too well. I couldn't sleep last night. Not after seeing… what we saw, you know?"

Zack nodded. While he hadn't had the best nights sleep in his life, he was still able to get a few hours of rest in, which he chalked up to having dealt with human remains on a daily basis at the Jeffersonian. "You will be okay." He comforted, "Amy, you didn't recognize the girl, did you?" She shook her head and thought about the face that she had seen. The face had been mutilated and the body badly decomposed, and she really didn't want to get a good look at who it was out of pure fear and disgust. Even if she had recognized the face initially, her mind was blocking out the memory and she wasn't sure about the specific details of the event, merely that they happened.

"No, Zack, I don't think so." She said softly, "All I do know is that she was definitely a patient."

"There is no way you could possibly know that."

"Her clothes, Zack. Nurses wear scrubs, patients wear casual attire."

He shook his head in agreement, feeling as though he should have realized that first.

"You don't think that that guy heard us, or saw us last night?"

"No, he didn't even know we were there. If he had, he would have come after us, which he obviously didn't."

"That's good." She said sighing in relief, "Well, what do we do now?"

"Well, we can try to figure this all out. This is what I used to do before I came here."

"Well that's ironic." Amy said, sounding normal for the first time that day. She laughed.

"Huh?" Zack stated, have not heard what she said.

"I said that that is ironic, you solving crimes only to commit one yourself."

Zack stared at her, clearly upset, but he was unsure whether he was upset with her for saying it, or at himself for the statement being true.

"Sorry." She said, putting a hand on his leg. She looked into his eyes for only a moment, but in his extreme discomfort he looked away from her. His guilt had been overwhelming and he felt as though he would never be able to forgive himself, especially when his friends; colleagues at the Jeffersonian were apparently unwilling to do so as well.

"I need to talk to someone."

"Okay, well, you could go see the…"

"No." he stated, turning back to look at her again, "I mean I need to talk about what happened. I need to talk to you."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Zack. Believe me, I have done worse things." She said, withdrawing her hand from his leg.

"I would appreciate it if you would let me speak."

Amy nodded and leaned back in her chair, giving him her full attention.

"It all seems to have escaped my memory, which I find to be incomprehensible because I haven't had any kind of head trauma, at least none that I can remember."

"I'm no scientist, but I think that is normal. Memories fade, especially the ones that frighten us."

"I just feel like it happened so quickly. The mast-." Zack choked on the word and rephrased, "This man, approached me and started to talk to me. I had no intention of making acquaintances at the convention, however, he seemed genuinely interested in my work and my, the people in my life. I was happy that someone would take such an interest in me, because in most scenarios, I was the person that everyone ignored or brushed off. That is how it has been all my life. Even with my parents. My brothers and sisters were far more complex personalities to deal with, I guess I was in their shadow in that sense. I was always the good son who never bothered them with problems. The problem was that I had my share of difficulties, not just the bullying that occurred while in school, but I was never accepted socially into the family because of my intelligence and inability to connect on an emotional level because of that intelligence. It seems as though no one really cared about who I was until I murdered that man on behalf of…" Zack paused.

Amy looked at Zack inquisitively, "Who did you kill him for, Zack?"

Zack let out a sigh and rested his head in his hands, "Gormogon."

Amy's eyes widened, "Oh my God. Gormogon? You mean," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "You mean you were Gormogon's apprentice?"

Zack nodded his head and looked at her through the gaps in his fingers, quantifying her reaction. She sat stunned, unable to move her eyes off of him. She was at a loss for words.

"If you no longer think that I am cool, I will understand."

"Did you eat anyone?"

Zack shook his head slowly.

"Well, as long as you didn't eat anyone, I still think you're okay."

"Okay isn't cool..." Zack said quietly.

"Don't worry," she said reaching out for his hand, "You can make it up to me." She said smiling at him.

"The worst part is," he said, "Is that I didn't realize how much my colleagues cared for me until it was too late. I though I was just a convenience for them until then."

"What do you mean by convenience?"

"Hodgins could blame things on me when they went wrong, Doctor Brennan had me doing things that I did for her as an assistant even though I had received my doctorate and was employed as a forensic anthropologist. Angela practically ignored me, except for the random acts of kindness which were far and few between. Agent Booth…"

"What about me?" said a voice from behind the two.

Zack turned to see Special Agent Seeley Booth standing there with a small uncomfortable grin on his face.

"Agent Booth? What are you doing here?"

"We were at a crime scene not far from here. I thought I might come and see how you were doing."

"We? Is Doctor Brennan here as well?"

Booth avoided eye contact with Zack and awkwardly coughed, "Uh… yeah. She's not really..."

"I understand." Zack said, with a tinge of sadness in his voice, "So, what is the case?"

Amy looked over at Zack with a slightly wide-eyed expression on her face.

"Zack, you know I can't discuss that with you." Booth said regrettably, "So, how are you holding up?"

"Not so well."

Booth nodded in understanding.

"I'm Amy. It's nice to meet you." Amy stated abruptly. Booth smiled and leaned down to whisper in Zack's ear, "So, are you gettin' any action on the inside?" Booth slapped him on the shoulder and laughed.

Zack stared at Booth questioningly and then peered over at Amy, extremely confused about his use of the word 'action'.

Booth's smile dropped, "I'll explain that to you another time." Booth straightened up , "Okay, well I should get going. I have a peeved Forensic Anthropologist waiting for me downstairs."

"I'm sorry." Zack said to Booth disappointed, knowing that it was his fault.

"Oh, no," Booth stated in attempt to cover up for the truth, "It's not about you. I spilled hot coffee all over her this morning."

Zack stood up to bid him goodbye. Without any warning, Booth pulled Zack into a tight hug, "We all love you, Zack. You were not convenient, you were loved. You always will be loved."

Zack was taken aback by this extremely unusual and rare display of Agent Booth's emotion. Zack lightly patted him on the back, not really knowing how to respond to the situation. Booth let go of him, grinned, and walked away.

After Booth's departure, Zack looked at Amy.

"So," she said, "You were talking about how your friends don't care about you?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The night was enchantingly eerie. The moon was full and the light drifting into the asylum was a crisp blue. The air smelled unusually sweet and the soft lull of the ventilation system and crickets singing on the just on the other side of the wall soothed his thoughts. It seemed as though this night, unlike all other nights, was alive on its own accord. Despite Zack's attempts to rationalize the situation, he could feel his sense of carelessness bubble up into his heart and overtake any shred of rational he may have had left. The intrigue of merely living in the moment took precedence over any worries he may have had. Everything that occurred before this moment was unworthy of his thoughts. He could feel his excitement trickling on his skin as though he were standing on the edge of a cliff unsure whether he should stay in the realm of safety, or jump off into a sea of possibility.

The door of his room gently clicked open, as he suspected it might, and Amy glided into the room, her hair tousling behind her back. The light emanated off of her skin making her look ethereal in conjunction with the white nightgown that flowed seamlessly on her body. She closed the door and leaned herself up against the wall across from his bed, with a mischievous grin crawling across her pale face. He returned her smile and remained motionless on his bed. In one foul swoop, she managed to jump over the footboard and land gracefully next to him. Laughing at this, the both scooted into the frame of the mattress and became comfortable lying next to each other. She propped her head up on her hands and stared at him as he lay facing the ceiling with a smile on his face unlike any smile he had ever made before.

There was no apparent reason for them to feel so comfortable in each others presence. Nothing had really changed since that afternoon when Zack spoke to Agent Booth in the common room. Perhaps having opened himself up to her, he finally received an emotional connection with someone that he had never received outside of these walls. Perhaps the morbid secret that they shared had brought them together in a way that neither of them could have ever predicted. Zack knew that they couldn't tell anyone about the woman in the wall because of the consequences they would have to face. They didn't know who the murderer was, and coming forward with this information could prove to be dangerous; not only for him, but for Amy. He brushed the thought out of his mind knowing he wouldn't think about it tonight; not this night. For now, this comfort was truly a welcome relief for both of them and they didn't want it to be taken away, so they lay next to each other in Zack's bed and relished the thought of being close to someone just for this night.

She lowered her head onto his shoulder, and he instinctively put his arm around her. Closing her eyes, she placed her hand over his heart and felt it beating underneath her small delicate hand. He studied her face, not caring about how little he knew about her, and certainly not caring about the possibility of her psychosomatic symptoms; all he cared about was having her next to him. They couldn't understand each other, but they understood each other perfectly, and that was enough for him.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

**Chapter 6**

"Good morning, sir." Amy said faking an awful British accent as she took her usual seat next to him in the common room.

Zack smiled at her and blushed slightly at the smile she graced him with, "Good morning."

"How are you?"

"I'm good." He said, looking away from her, his blush growing more intense.

She smiled at the sight of this, and her own blush became apparent. "So listen," she stated firmly, trying to eradicate the awkward moment, "we need to do something about this… situation we have on our hands."

"What?" Zack asked, upset by her implication.

"No, silly! Not this situation. The," she leaned into him and lowered her voice, "The boiler room situation."

"Oh." He said sounding relieved. She giggled at his reaction and let her eyes focus on the window which had become their shared point of interest in the few days that they had known each other.

"I can call Hodgins. I can't promise that he will help us, but perhaps he will make an exception if I give him something in return."

"What could you possibly give him in return?" she asked, her eyes leaving the window for only a moment.

"Something better than bugs and slime." He said, a small smile coming to his face.

Zack approached the nurses station slowly, his nervousness evident in every form possible, "Excuse me." He said quietly, his voice cracking. The nurses went about their business, not noticing his presence. He cleared his throat and took a breath in hopes of catching some courage in the process, "Excuse me." He repeated. A young woman looked up and smiled at him.

"What can I do you for, dear?" she said, sounding sweeter than sugar.

"I need to make a phone call." He said as though he were a child asking his mother for permission.

"What for sweetheart?" she replied, only this time her sweet tone seemed to him somewhat condescending.

"I'm afraid that that isn't relevant. I need to call someone, and I would like to know how I can do that."

Her saccharin coated face melted before him and became one of annoyance and ridicule, "Who are you calling and what is it about?"

"It's to a friend and it is a private matter."

The nurse slammed a quarter on the counter and pointed towards a pay phone that was down the hall, "That is your one phone call for the week."

Zack swiped the quarter off the counter with his new found confidence and valiantly strode down the hallway. He dialed the numbers slowly; his heart was beating so hard in his chest that he thought that he might pass out before Hodgins even picked up.

"Hodgins." A voice said on the other end of the line.

"It's Zack."

"Oh," he said, sounding slightly surprised, "What's up man?"

"I realize that after what I have done, that there is no apparent reason for you to trust me, but I need to ask you a favor." Zack paused and waited for a response. He could hear Hodgins breathing on the other end and knew that he was making a decision.

Hodgins cleared his throat, "What do I get out of it?"

"You'll see when you get here." Zack replied.

"Will I get in trouble for doing this?"

"Only if you get caught."

"I'm in." Hodgins said with a smile in his voice. Zack chuckled at his excitement, "What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to come to the hospital tonight at six o'clock with a zip lock bag."

"Woah, dude, did you bake brownies or something? Are you even allowed ovens over there?"

"Why would you automatically assume that I've baked brownies when I ask you to bring a zip lock bag?"

"Wishful thinking, Zack. The only other thing that you in particular would use a zip lock bag for is evidence."

"Precisely."

Hodgins sighed, "Zack, did you… I mean, you didn't…"

"No, I didn't kill anyone here." Zack said defensively.

"Oh thank God."

Zack cleared his throat, "Don't let anyone know what you are doing or where you are going, especially Agent Booth."

"Zack," Hodgins called, clearly concerned, "What is going on?"

"It's better if I don't tell you. When this information becomes common knowledge, I will be forced into a dangerous position."

Hodgins sighed, "Okay, I'll be there."

Zack hung up the phone without another word.

"Who was that?" Angela said watching Hodgins hang up the phone.

"Don't worry about it Ang." He said shaking his head.

"It was Zack, wasn't it?"

"He's… paranoid. I think that this whole thing is seriously driving him into the ground."

Angela nodded, turning her head away from him, tears filling her eyes.

"Babe," he said calling her over to him. She slowly shuffled over to him, and he put his arms around her, "He's going to be okay. They're going to fix whatever is wrong with him, and he will be better for it."

"Not if we don't support him. With Brennan keeping us all this busy, I'm never going to be able to visit him." Her tears overcame he face and Hodgins rubbed her back and softly comforted her.

"You will, baby. Don't worry. You're not ready to see him yet. When you're ready to go, I'll be there with you."

"Promise?" she said, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

"Yeah, of course." He said kissing the top of her head and taking in the scent of her hair.

"Angela, what's wrong?" Brennan said stalking into the room, followed by Boot.

Angela let her grip on Hodgins loosen and they separated, "Oh, honey," she waved her hand haphazardly in the air, "The usual."

Brennan nodded her head, and her expression became harder, "I need you to finish up that facial reconstruction with Zack," she shook her head and corrected herself, "With the new intern."

"Sure, sweetie," she said, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes and moving toward the door. As she passed Brennan, Angela reached out for her arm, squeezed it gently and proceeded out of the room.

Booth leaned up against the doorway and watched the interaction take place, knowing that Brennan was going to have to deal with her emotions at some point.

"Jack, I need you to take a second look at the particulates from the remains, it seems as though there is one common element in both murders that showed up in test results, I would like confirmation on that and possible locations or sources where those elements could have been obtained." Brennan nodded at him for understanding and turned towards the door.

"Sure Dr. Brennan. I'll do it as quickly as I can, but I have to be out of here by five."

She abruptly turned back towards him with a questioning expression, "Where are you going?"

"I don't see how that is relevant, but if you must know, I have an appointment with a doctor." He realized that this wasn't necessarily the truth, but rationally, he did make an appointment, and Zack was indeed a Doctor.

She nodded her head again, "Fine." She marched out of the room, and Booth was still standing in the doorway staring at Hodgins.

Hodgins looked at him and a small smile came to Booth's face which Hodgins returned, "You are so lucky that she can't read people the way I do." With that, Booth pushed himself off the doorway and ran to catch up with Brennan.

"Fascist!" Hodgins called after him, laughing in the process.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Zack and Hodgins sat across from each other in the common room. The room was less crowded now than it had been before. The nurses were taking patients one by one back to their rooms, doling out medications and making sure that they were safely tucked in for the night. The room would have been silent, but one fluorescent light was buzzing above their heads, which the two gentlemen were now fixated upon.

"You know, we could probably fix that in about three minutes." Hodgins said, his voice straining due to the extreme angle at which his head was positioned at the moment.

"I am aware."

Hodgins glanced at Zack and back towards the fixture, "So, are you going to tell me why I am here?"

"Right." Zack said firmly, looking back at Hodgins, "You brought the bag, right?"

Hodgins dug a hand into the pocket of his army fatigue jacket and pulled out a crinkled zip lock baggie.

"I am holding something under the table."

"Okay…" Hodgins said skeptically, "Are you going to give it to me?"

"There are cameras in this room, I would much prefer it if you reached under the table to keep this concealed."

"Big brother is watching." Hodgins nodded with a smirk on his face. He reached under the table and drew his hand back rapidly, "Can you please, for the love of God, let me know if my hand is headed towards your manhood?"

Zack laughed and nodded. Hodgins reached back under the table and swiped the object quickly out of his hands. Hodgins held in his hand a piece of toilet paper that had a red chunk inside of it, "Where did you get this?"

"I shouldn't tell you."

Hodgins looked down at the object in his hand and quickly sealed it in the now, evidence bag.

"I'll do what I can, but I can't promise anything."

"Do you want your payment now?" Zack said, a slight smile coming to his face.

"Heck yeah… what is it?" Hodgins said scooting his seat forward in anticipation.

Zack reached down and pulled up the coveted 'King of the Lab' trophy that Dr. Saroyan had given him. He placed it on the table and slid it towards Hodgins whose eyes widened in disbelief, "Dude, you can't give me this." He said lowering his voice portraying seriousness.

"I cannot be King of something I do not reside over."

"But you love this thing." Hodgins said, turning the trophy around and admiring it.

"I want you to have it."

Hodgins met Zack's eyes, "How about this, I'll keep it until you come back to the lab."

Zack saw the glint of sadness in Hodgins eyes, "Sure. Until I come back."

They both knew that that wouldn't be anytime soon, but saying it out loud made them both feel that it was true. With that, Hodgins pushed his chair back and stood, and Zack did the same. Hodgins walked to the other side of the table and wrapped Zack in his arms as though he were hugging his brother, "I'll come back soon, with Angela."

Zack shook his head and closed his eyes, unknowing what emotions may come next. Hodgins pulled back and looked in Zack's eyes and quickly left the facility. Zack slowly made his way back to his room and avoided looking at the dust outline where the trophy once sat in his room.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Although he had already been there for two weeks, he hadn't yet had the opportunity to meet with a counselor, which was where he was headed. Zack didn't give much credence to those who worked in psychology, manly because, as his mentor had stated numerous times, it was a soft science. Nonetheless, it was mandatory for him to take part in the process and so he embraced the opportunity to gain the motives behind the practice of psychology.

"Nervous?" he heard Amy say as she playfully bumped his shoulder.

"I don't get nervous, it's irrational."

"Yeah, yeah." She stated, obviously in disbelief. He smiled at her and slowed his pace in hopes of gaining a few more minutes in her company, "Hey Zack…"

"Yes?"

"Listen, don't talk about me to Doctor Freedman."

"Why not?"

"They don't really like it when patients… ya know… form bonds beyond…" she blushed and put her hands over her face briefly, "you know, this is silly, you probably don't even…"

Zack stopped abruptly and faced her, "I don't even what?" he said, his eyes begging her to finish her statement.

"You know what? Don't worry about it, just don't say anything about me, okay?" she said grabbing his wrist and giving it a comforting squeeze. She walked away leaving him standing there desperately curious to know what she was going to say.

He shook his suspicions out of his mind and made his way to the office of Dr. Freedman. Outside the door he collected himself, and knocked. From behind the door, he heard the doctor give him permission to enter and he slowly turned the handle and entered the room.

The walls were covered in Brown wood that looked as though it hadn't been redecorated since circa 1976. There were pictures scattered around the office with happy people smiling at the camera as well as a few knock off paintings from famous artists, all of which attempting to portray a serene environment, which was counteracted by the numerous stacks of files that piled up on the desk in front of the doctor.

"Sit down, Zack." The doctor said while scribbling the last of a sentence in a patient file. Zack wearily sat in a large over stuffed chair across from the desk and shifted uncomfortably. The doctor appeared to be in his mid thirties. His hair was beginning to grey and his skin was pale in a non-attractive manner. He looked as though he hadn't slept in over five years, and though Zack knew that it was impossible to still be living at that point, he didn't hesitate to toy with the thought.

The doctor closed the file and shoved it on the top of one of the stacks that seemed to overflow on his desk and turned his attention to the young man sitting across from him.

He offered Zack a friendly smile and folded his hands together, "How are you doing today, Zack?"

"I'm fine." Zack said flatly.

"I'm glad to hear that." The doctor paused to quickly make an assessment of Zack's appearance, "Welcome to Arkham Asylum. I know that you are most likely feeling uncomfortable with the drastic change that your life has made within the past year, as well as making this your new home, but I want to know that you can come to me for anything." Zack nodded and the doctor continued, "Now, I understand that you are here because you entangled yourself with Gormogon, the serial killer and cannibal?"

"Yes, sir." Zack said lowering his eyes for a moment.

"Okay. Now the first thing I am going to need to know is if you… took part in all of his affairs?"

"If your asking whether I ate anyone…" The doctor shifted uncomfortably, "The answer is 'no'."

The doctor let a small exhale of relief escape from his mouth, "Good. I'm sorry if that offended you, but I have to ask the question out of concern for the others in our care."

"Doctor, let me make something clear. I didn't kill Ray Porter because I wanted to."

"Well then, Zack, why did you kill him?"

Zack sighed, "I did it because… I think… this is all very confusing for me." He said leaning over and putting his head in his hands.

"Zack, I can see that you are not normally the kind of person who would commit such a heinous act, but there is a reason why you did this, maybe more than one reason. I want you to leave my office and start thinking about why you killed him. In fact, take this notebook," the doctor said pulling open his desk drawer handing Zack a worn spiral notebook, "use it as a journal to express your thoughts on what you did. This way, I will be able to read what you wrote and have more insight into your psyche."

Zack nodded and stood, "I should let you know sir, I don't put much faith in psychology. I have two doctorates and it all seems rather vague and generalized."

"I agree with you on the surface, but the fascinating part of psychology comes after the vague generalizations. You would be surprised how much talking can help. In fact, you will be surprised." The doctor said genuinely smiling at Zack.

Zack looked down at the notebook in his hands and back at the doctor, "Thank you for the notebook, sir."

"You're welcome."

Zack left the office and wandered back into the common room to find Amy sitting at their usual table. He tossed the notebook down in front of her and slumped in a chair beside her.

"So, how did it go?"

"That took far less time than I thought it was going to take." She said in breath filled sigh.

"Doctor Freedman is good like that. He knows how weird people feel in there the first time. I see he gave you the infamous notebook." She said turning towards him and tucking her legs underneath herself.

"I have to write down everything about what happened."

"You'd be surprised about how much it can help."

"He said the exact same thing, only about psychology in general."

"He is a brilliant man." Zack squinted at her in jest, "Only half as brilliant as you, though." She smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder, "Have you heard anything from Hodgins yet?"

"No, he hasn't come back yet, and I am assuming that since I already used my weekly phone call up, he hasn't been able to reach me."

"What are we going to do once we find out who it is?"

"I am still trying to work that out in my head. I am not nearly as stealthy as Agent Booth, but I think I know what we need to do."


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. I just hope this story lives up to all of your non-expectations. haha... you'll understand later... **

**Thanks again and please keep up the R&R. It fuels my brain.**

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**That night, Zack and Amy stood in Zack's room staring at the ceiling.

"Are you sure that this is really what we need to do?" she said in a skeptical manner.

"It's the only thing I can think of."

"I gave you the keys, we could just go the normal, human path."

"That would risk us getting caught. At least this way, there is no chance of being caught."

Amy sighed and looked away from the heating duct in the ceiling. She gave Zack a look of understanding turned to throw a few pillows underneath his covers.

"Do you want to go first, or me?" Zack asked.

"I am not nearly tall enough to get up there by myself. However, I am also wearing a nigh gown, which means if I go first, you get a sneak peak." She said, putting her hands on her hips and giving him a knowing grin.

He laughed quietly and dropped his eyes to the floor, "I won't look, I promise." He raised his hands in defeat.

"Okay then."

"Do you have the penny?" He asked.

"Yeah, ready?" she asked. Zack nodded and swiftly picked her up in the air allowing her to reach the duct and use the penny as a screwdriver to release the screws from the ceiling. After the last screw was removed, she tugged on the vent and pulled it down. She could never have predicted the weight of the vent and without warning, it slipped out of her head and came crashing to the ground. The nurses' voices became loud and slightly panicked at the noise. Zack slid her down his body and threw both himself and her down behind his bed and held a hand over her mouth as they listened to the voices outside the room.

"What was that?" one nurse said incredulously.

"It sounded like metal crashing."

"Should we check inside the rooms?" another asked.

"Nah, I bet one of the patients has their windows open and the wind blew something over or one of them is a violent sleeper." She laughed, "Besides, It sounds like everything is okay now."

"Okay."

After the conversation, they could hear the nurses walking back towards their station. This was when Zack realized the precarious position that he had put himself and Amy in. He was lying on top of her, forehead to forehead with his hand still covering her mouth. She was staring at him in a manner which could only be described as tense. He slowly and awkwardly removed his hand from her mouth, and smiled slightly in attempts to apologize.

"Did I hurt you? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to." He said, moving off of her and standing back up.

"No, no. I'm okay." She smiled and reached out for his hand. He pulled her back to her feet and she bent over, gently placing the vent underneath his bed.

"Phase one, accomplished." Zack said sheepishly.

"You, sir, are a total nerd."

Zack's face fell, "Is that bad?"

"No," she said, "It's adorable." She said, winking at him.

It was hard for him to break his gaze away from her, but there were more pressing issues at hand. At that thought, his expression became graver. He walked back toward the now gaping whole in the ceiling and looked at her, "Ready?" She nodded and joined him underneath the duct. He cupped his hand and she placed her foot in his hands so that he could attempt to lift her into the duct. She placed her hands on his shoulders and nodded at him to signal that she was ready. She flawlessly was lifted into the air and was feeling the inside of the duct to find support. Zack, realized that he had broken his promise to her. Because of the way he had lifted her, it was nearly impossible not to look up mainly because he needed to balance her underneath the duct, and with that came the view up her nightgown. He laughed to himself knowing that he would not be feeling guilty about it anytime in the near future, and most likely never would. Amy finally found a way to lift herself up into the duct and she crawled inside. She poked her head out of the hole and back down at Zack who was smiling at her achievement, "Hey look at me! I'm Nancy Drew!" she whispered to him. He smiled at her comment, even though he didn't really know who 'Nancy Drew' was and climbed up onto one of the dressers in the room and gauged how far he would need to jump in order to grab the frame of the duct and lift himself up.

"Hey, be careful." Amy whispered.

Knowing that it was an anthropological standard for men to seek approval of their athletic prowess to their significant others, Zack took the challenge seriously in attempts to prove his worth to Amy. Zack jumped toward the duct and successfully grabbed the edge. Amy grabbed onto his arms and helped pull him up into the duct. Zack settled in the duct and was out of breath. They decided to sit for a moment before continuing on their path.

"Thanks for helping me up here, Zack."

"This would have never happened if I hadn't met you." He said breathlessly.

Amy, misunderstanding his statement turned her eyes away from him, "Oh, I'm sorry."

"No." he said forcefully, grabbing her hand, "This is the most exciting thing that I've ever done. It's the best thing that has ever happened to me," he paused and looked her in the eyes. He thought for a moment and lifted her chin the way he knew Agent Booth would with Doctor Brennan, "You're the best thing that has ever happened to me." Amy blushed and looked away. "Now," he said, "Let's solve a crime."

Amy turned to move away but then paused and looked back at him, "You totally looked up didn't you?"

Zack blushed and a large guilty smile erupted onto his face, "No…"

"You're an awful liar!"


	10. Chapter 10

**You all are so awesome. Thanks for all of the reviews thus far! I hope you're enjoying the story. This chapter is short, but I will have another one up by tonight to make up for it!**

**R&R please!! **

**(I posted another story today as well called Wizard of Bones, so check it out!!)**

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They quietly crawled through the shaft with Zack muttering directions to Amy at every pass. Finally after twenty minutes, they came to a dead end, which ironically was situated in the cleaning supply room which held the body of the young girl that they had discovered.

"What do we do now?" Amy whispered to Zack, forcing her body to sit up in the tight space.

"We wait to see if that man comes back."

"That's it?" Amy asked in disbelief, "That is your brilliant, ingenious plan?"

"Do you have a better one?"

Amy shrugged as much as she could in the confined space and looked over at Zack.

"I didn't think so." He stated clearly amused. He turned his sights back on watching the dark room below them, hoping that the man they were looking for would show up.

"Zack, I should talk to you."

"What about?" he said turning his full attentions back on her.

"About me. I want to tell you why I am here." He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze which led her to continue speaking, "When I was fifteen, I was kidnapped from my home in Virginia. I spent that next year locked in a cage by a man named Mitchell Deering. He would… well," she looked away from him for a moment, catching her breath and trying to calm her nerves back down. Zack moved next to her and put his arms around her.

"It's okay, Amy." He whispered, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, Zack. I want to tell you." She cleared her throat and began again, "He raped me everyday, and after a few weeks he began telling me that he loved me. After a while, he didn't seem so bad." Her bottom lip pouted and her tears began to stream down her face despite her best attempts to wipe them from her face, "After a while, I started to believe him. When he came downstairs to have sex with me, I didn't mind it as much as I had used to." She wiped her tears again and took a breath, regaining some control over her emotions, "After a year he let me out of the cage, but I didn't know where else to go, so I stayed with him and I lived there with him. I slept in the same bed with him and told him I loved him every night. I didn't know what I was doing, I could barely remember who I was before I was taken much less who my parents were or where we were from. One day, he brought home another girl; she looked to be about 15 years old, the age I was when he brought me home. I felt like he had betrayed me. When I confronted him about it, he said that I had gotten too old for him and that I should probably think about going elsewhere. I snapped. I picked up the nearest thing and well… he's gone now. God, when I got here, I just hated myself so much. For killing the man I thought I was in love with, for being so weak."

"Amy, I had no idea." Zack said pulling her in tighter. He placed a kiss on her forehead and let her rest her head on his chest taking in the scent of her hair.

"That should explain why I couldn't judge you for killing someone, because, I have done it too, Zack."

"You had Stockholm Syndrome, Amy. It was beyond your control." He said quietly.

"Zack, killing is killing. Motives don't change that. Motives only effect whether or not you are evil for doing so. Some people murder for sport, others out of revenge, and some, people like you and me, have killed because we were broken by society. We are not evil people Zack; the world just ran out of super glue."

They sat for a moment, and then began to giggle at her comment, soon growing into an incessant laugh. He couldn't help himself anymore. Now that he knew Amy, and watching her laugh stuck in that compact space that they shared, he couldn't betray himself any longer. As his laughter began to die down, he reached up and brushed a stray piece of hair out of her face and let his fingers run down the length of her cheek. She stopped laughing but remained smiling as she realized what was happening. Zack, noting to himself to thank Agent Booth for the 'moves', slowly leaned into her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks for all of the reviews. You guys are brilliant.**

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The squeaking door of the boiler room forced Zack to jump back from Amy before he could kiss her as he so desperately wanted to do. They heard the looming crash of footsteps on the rickety metal staircase, and they quickly shifted their position to peer into the room below them. The light flicked on in the excess supply room and then Amy and Zack realized that the view was a steep shot and not quite conducive to I.D. their murderer. The footsteps into the room were gravely and scuffing, and considering the room's size, they could only assume that the man was pacing back and forth underneath them. Zack let out a small sigh, and the footsteps ceased immediately.

"Hello?" the man called underneath them.

Amy glared at Zack warning him to watch himself, especially since he was the one who was harping on the importance of not being caught.

"Hello?" the man called again. With the lack of response he received, the man resumed pacing the floor.

The duct where Amy and Zack were situated on their hands and knees peering through the grate was becoming stuffy and hot. Zack had begun sweating, not only because of the heat but also because of his proximity to Amy. She looked over at him and started soundlessly giggling, which grabbed Zack's attention. He smiled at her, noticing that she wasn't sweating at all, and although he thought it was strange, he couldn't help but stare at her and the way her smile felt like it was piercing through his skin.

There was a loud crashing sound from the room below which interrupted their reverie yet again and finally the man was in view. He was sucking his own blood off of his fist which led them to believe that he had punched something in anger. Finally, the man was in view, but they were unable to see his face. The man, after cleaning the blood off of his skin, moved the shelf that Amy and Zack had moved, and opened up the wall where the body of the girl lay tucked inside between the framing of the room. The man stared at the girl, who only slightly resembled a girl at this point. Leaning in, Amy and Zack heard the man speak to her.

"I'm so…" he said. They could hear his voice whimpering as though he were holding back tears, "I'm so sorry." The man leaned forward and placed a kiss on the skull of the remains, "Goodnight."

The man closed the wall and concealed the body again behind the sheetrock and shelf. He turned and walked out of the room, shutting off the lights behind him. They heard the creaking as the man walked solemnly back to the top of the rickety metal steps and the squealing of the door as it shut and locked from the outside.

Amy sat back on her heels and tossed her hands in the air and sighed, "Now what? That told us nothing except that the murderer is a sick-o, which we already knew considering, he is a murderer!"

"Actually it is helpful." Zack responded.

"How?" she said incredulously.

"Well," he began, "Now we know that the murder is approximately five feet six inches tall. We also know that he has dark brown hair and has a small build. Process of elimination. We have to find out who fits that description and who has the keys to the boiler room. That should narrow things down quite sufficiently for further investigation."

Amy looked at him smiling in embarrassment for not realizing this sooner, "Oh."

He laughed, "So, I guess we should head back then."

Amy nodded and made a quick move to resituate herself and hit her head hard against the top of the duct, "Ouch!" she said grabbing her head in pain. Zack quickly moved to her side and gently placed a hand on top of her head, removing her hands from the wounded area. He ran his hand over her hair and noticed no injury had occurred, that it merely was just a bump on the head. He laughed and ran his hand through her hair again, loving the way it felt on his skin.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, I think I will be fine." She said. They both laughed at the occurrence and Amy looked into his eyes. Zack knew that she was attempting to reignite the moment they had had earlier. This time though, he would not be slow. This time he swiftly leaned into her and took her into a passionate kiss. This kiss was not the kind of kiss that insinuated sex, but the romantic kind, the kind that stated that they needed to be near each other; the kind that one would see in an old fashioned movie. It was perfect.


	12. Chapter 12

**I got bored... so... here's another chapter! haha Hope you like it. Once again, thank you all so much for all of the reviews. You guys are awesome!**

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The next day, Zack was yet again sitting at his favorite spot in the common room, only this time, he had decided to give into the doctor's wishes and write about what happened with Gormogon. However, it seemed as though he was unable to formulate the adequate words to describe what had actually occurred. Eventually he decided to write the first thoughts that came to his mind.

_I killed another man. I murdered the lobbyist. I murdered the lobbyist by stabbing him in the heart. By stabbing him in the heart, I murdered another human being. I am responsible for my actions. He may have taken advantage of me; however it was my hand that plunged the dagger into his body. It was my fault. All of this was my fault._

Zack sighed to himself closing his eyes in disgust of the words that he transcribed onto the page. Those words spoke the truth. They spoke the truth about his life as Hodgins had said, both literally and metaphorically. He gripped the pencil tightly in his hand trying to shake off the overwhelming sense of idiocy that had overcome every muscle in his body, when he heard a small cough from behind him. He turned to see a face which he hadn't expected to see for a long time, if ever. It was Doctor Brennan.

She had her arms crossed defensively and her face was blankly staring at him. His mouth dropped open to speak, but no words were able to come out.

"Hello Zack." She said meekly.

"Uh… Hello, Doctor Brennan." He stammered.

She walked around the table and sat in the chair across from him, "How are you?"

"I'm… fine." He responded.

She nodded her hand, but they both knew that she couldn't care about the state of his well being on the surface, and she most likely did not come here on her own volition. They sat in silence for what seemed like a long time, even though it may have only been a few minutes, the uncomfortable feeling surrounding the two made it seem as though it had been hours of quiet, uninterrupted silence.

"I am a strong, decisive, independent and rational woman." Dr. Brennan said, interrupted the thickly constrained air.

"I…" Zack began to say, but was interrupted.

"Don't interrupt me." She said sharply, "I am sitting here across from you, when I should never want to speak to you again. I feel as though after what you've done, I should see you as a different person; colder, more aloof, maybe even more intimidating, but I am looking at you, and all I see is… my assistant. The graduate student I hired who clung to my every word and whose own social ineptitude surpassed my own." A tear slid down her cheek which she quickly wiped away in hopes that he wouldn't notice, "I've always thought that Booth's ranting about the separation between brain and heart were conjecture and psychological babble that had no founding in facts and logical thinking, but that day in the hospital, that day that you ruined not only your life, but everyone else's lives around you, it became apparent." Brennan lowered her head to the table into her hands and began to sob, "My heart has not stopped aching since that day at the hospital. What you did was unforgivable, Zack, but for some reason, some torturous reason, I don't have the ability to not care for you. You were my assistant, my prodigy and the closest thing to a son that I will ever have. You betrayed me and I feel like it is my fault."

Zack reached his hand across the table and held hers. She was still crying and unable to look him in the eyes any longer. "I'm so sorry." He whispered to her. Upon hearing those words, Brennan jerked her hand away from his, stood and left.

Zack sighed and dropped his head. It was bad enough that he had ruined the rest of his life, but the thought of letting Doctor Brennan down, letting her suffer for his wrongdoings was almost too much to handle. He knew that she had been extremely upset about what happened, but he didn't realize how badly she was really taking it until just now. He finally found that he had something to write.

_How could I do this to her? She accepted me immediately unlike anyone else in my life whose love I had to earn. I fear that my actions have caused her to assume logically that if I could have done something like this, murder another individual through logic and rational means that she may be capable of the same act. This cannot bode well for her. She is not like me. She could never kill someone the way that I brutally murdered _

_Ray Porter._

_Amy says that both she and I have been broken by society and that they ran out of super glue to fix us with. I don't know that that is true... at least with me._


	13. Chapter 13

**This is starting to aggrivate me... attempt number four at uploading this stinkin' chapter. Love y'all. Thanks for the reviews!**

Zack approached the nurses station with an heir of confidence that hadn't been seen the last time he needed to use the phone. It was Sunday, and therefore he had the right to his one phone call for the week.

"I'd like to make a phone call."

The nurse who he had spoken to last time simply slammed the quarter on the counter without a word, but he could see in her expression that she was still just as annoyed with him as the last time he had asked for this privilege. He swiped the quarter off the counter with a grin plastered on his face and strolled down to the pay phone, soaking up the small feeling of power that he had in this place.

He dialed the numbers and waited for Hodgins to pick up on the other end.

"Hullo?"

"Hodgins. It's Zack."

"Hey buddy, how are things?" he said casually.

"Fine, did you get anything off of that thing I gave you?"

"Yeah, the blood matched the DNA of a missing persons report from a few years back. One Amelia Webber."

"Okay, great. Thanks. So, how is the trophy?"

"She's beautiful, as ever. I rigged her up with lights so she is a prominent figure in the room."

Zack laughed at his best friend's enthusiasm, "As much as I appreciate you taking such good care of it for me, I don't know that Doctor Brennan would enjoy that as much as you or I would."

"I really could care less what she thinks. It's our office and we can do as we please. Besides, she has been a royal pain in my gluteus maximus the past few weeks."

"What is going on?" he asked.

"I don't know. She has been diving deeper into work and bringing us all down with her. Angela tried to talk to her about it, but she refuses to admit that anything is wrong. Booth can't even get through to her. Booth has even gone so far as to encourage more frequent visits to Sweets, but he says that every time they go there, she clams up."

"I am afraid that that has to do with me. She came here yesterday and… well she wasn't herself. Please promise me that you will help her." Zack said sadly.

"Okay buddy." Hodgins responded, "Look, I have something to do tonight, but maybe tomorrow I will come by with Angela and I can bring the picture from the missing persons report with me so you can see exactly whose blood that is."

"Sure. That sounds great. Tell Angela and everyone that I miss them."

"You can tell Angela you miss yourself, tomorrow."

"Okay."

"Later buddy."

"Bye."

Hogins hung up the phone and heard a knock on his office door. He turned to see Angela leaning against the door frame with a sheepish smile on her face.

"He misses me?" she asked.

"Of course he misses you."

"What are you doing? You look all sneaky and conspiratorial." She laughed.

"How can you tell that I am being conspiratorial?" he grinned at her.

"I know what your face looks like when you are breaking the rules." She laughed, "I just hope you aren't breaking the law or anything. I need you here with me, not in jail or in bunking with Zack."

"Don't worry, babe. I am not going anywhere."

She gave him another sheepish grin and pushed herself off the doorway and left. Hodgins hit the print button on the missing persons report and leaned back in his chair.

Zack hung up the phone and sighed. They finally had a name for the girl in the boiler room. They didn't have to refer to it as "the situation" or "Those remains", Amelia Webber was her name, and yet suddenly, Zack felt an enormous amount of weight on his shoulders. Now that she had a name, it became real. They had to figure out who did this to her; and eventually Zack would have to inform Booth of her disappearance and murder. This did not sit well with him, although he could now understand what it was like for Doctor Brennan investigating these cases all the time. Before she had gone into the field remains were just that; remains. When she started working with Agent Booth, they became real people, and now Zack understood why she was always so adamant that they learn the truth and why they would examine the bones until there was no possible missing evidence. She needed to let these people not die in vain, and that is exactly how Zack felt at this moment. He needed to find Amy.

He jogged back to the common room to find Amy perched upon a green couch that he normally would never sit on. The couch was ripped and stained and he felt as though if he looked closely enough, he could see the immense amount of bacteria that infested the corduroy material. That was the old Zack though, and with a quick dive, he landed right next to her.

"I have an appointment with Doctor Freidman, but I have to tell you about the news I just received."

Amy had been reading a magazine, but when Zack dove next to her, she immediately threw the magazine onto a nearby table and turned her attention to him, "Okay, what's up?"

"The remains in the basement are that of one Amelia Webber. She had a missing persons report on file to which Hodgins matched the DNA to."

"Amelia Webber," she said perking up, "I knew her. She was here a few years ago. I really didn't like her, at all."

"Well, despite your opinion of her character, we need to find out about her death. We need to go back to the boiler room tonight."

Amy sighed and rolled her eyes, "Fine, but we need to make sure we are in and out quickly. I don't want to get caught by some crazy psychotic killer on the loose."

"Deal." Zack said smiling at her. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, "I'll see you later then."

With that, Zack pushed himself off the couch and headed back to his room to fetch the notebook that Doctor Freidman had given him and made his way to his office.

**VICTORY!! love, Simoph52**


	14. Chapter 14

**Okay, so... anyone who knows about posting stories here PM me please because I don't know how to make room for new chapters. I have 15 things on here and it says that it won't take anymore than that. YIKES. I am slightly computer illiterate, haha. **

**Thanks for the reviews. You people rock!!**

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"Zack!" Doctor Freidman greeted as Zack cautiously entered the office. The desks were still as messy as ever and he noted that the doctor still looked as tired as he ever did. Zack took a seat across from the doctor, notebook in hand and waited for the doctor to speak.

After a minute, the doctor looked up at him and closed the file in front of him, "How are you today?"

"I'm good. And you?"

"Just fine." The doctor smiled, "I see you brought that notebook with you?"

"Yes, sir." Zack replied.

"Wonderful." The doctor motioned to have Zack hand it over and when he received it he fingered through the numerous pages that had been written on, "What did you write about?" the doctor asked.

"Many things, specifically time in Iraq, my friend and the murder."

"Good, good." The doctor said closing the book and placing it on his desk, "I'll read that later and I will give it back to you next time, is that okay?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now, I would like for you to tell me about your time in Iraq, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, sir. I was there identifying remains of soldiers."

"Did anything happen while you were over there?"

"Specifically? No, not that I can recall."

"What about at night? What did you hear at night?"

Zack shifted in his seat uncomfortably, "I heard… the war. There was a battle approximately two miles from where the workspace was located. I heard…"

The doctor leaned forward, obviously interested in what was going on in Zack's mind.

"I heard… the sounds of guns. I heard screaming, the rumbling of engines. I heard the sounds of imminent danger."

"Were you in danger, Zack?"

"I don't think so. We had guards stationed outside of our living quarters."

"The night of July 26th? What happened that night?"

"I… I don't recall anything happening that night, sir."

"Think about it, Zack. Close your eyes and try to remember that night."

Zack closed his eyes and sat for a moment.

The doctor opened a file on his desk and looked over it briefly, "Zack, you were working on the remains of a twenty-three year old soldier from Arkansas."

Zack sighed loudly and shifted again in his seat, "I don't remember that."

"Think Zack. He had a family; he had just gotten married before he was shipped out."

Zack lowered his head, eyes still closed in his hands, "I… I don't know what you're talking about."

The doctor sat back in his chair, "Open your eyes, Zack."

Zack did as he was told and looked at the doctor who appeared to be disappointed.

"It seems as though your condition is worse than I had anticipated. It seems as though your time in the war has greatly affected you. I want you to go and think about that night before our next session which I will schedule for Tuesday afternoon. Really think about it, Zack. This is important."

"Thank you, sir." Zack stood up from his chair and quickly exited the office. What had happened July 26th? He didn't remember anything out of the ordinary, but if the doctor was pushing that date, something must have happened. He would eventually figure it out, but right now, he needed to focus on Amelia. She needed his help right now and he couldn't let his problems stop him from helping her.


	15. Chapter 15

**Woohoo!! I can update! WERD! Thanks for the reviews!!**

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Zack waited by his door that night pacing impatiently. He was going over what he needed to do in his mind so that he could be prepared when they got down into the boiler room.

Finally, the door burst open and Amy swooped inside and quickly shut the door behind her. She grabbed his face and planted a kiss on his lips, which he eagerly accepted.

"Are you calm now?" she asked.

"How did you…" he began to ask.

"I just knew." She replied smiling, "Okay, so, what are we going to do?"

"Well, I have to look at the remains again, at Amelia. I need to see if there are any other clues as to who it was that killed her. I need to know who it was."

"Okay then." She said, "Let me just catch my breath and then we will go."Zack nodded, "So, how was your appointment with the freid-mister?" she giggled and sat down on the edge of his bed.

"It… it was okay. Apparently there is an event that I can't seem to remember."

"Oh, that isn't good." She said sounding deeply concerned about it.

Zack shrugged his shoulders and looked away from her, "Well there isn't much I can do about it. I just have to try to remember."

Amy nodded, and stood up, "Okay then, let's get a move on."

Quickly and quietly, Amy and Zack crept down the hallway towards the boiler room. This time however, they didn't wear socks which made arriving at their destination far easier than the last time.

Zack removed the set of keys from his pocket and slipped them into the door of the boiler room. He crept inside the door, Amy following behind and shut the door behind them, once again, locking it from the inside. They raced down the staircase and underneath the stairs to retrieve the flashlight that they had used previously and made their way into the storage room. Quickly they moved the shelf and opened up the wall only to find it empty. The body was gone.

Zack stepped back in shock. Amy clasped her hand over her mouth. Where did she go? Who had taken her?

Zack looked at Amy and realized that she was crying. He instantly pulled her into his arms, "Amy, are you okay?"

"It's gone." She said in a small voice. He pulled her tighter to him and rubbed her back.

"It's okay, Amy. We will find her," he whispered, placing a kiss on her forehead, "and we will find out who killed her."

He could understand why she was so upset, this had been someone that she knew and regardless of whether or not she liked Amelia didn't make a difference. No one deserves to be disrespected so much as to be murdered and then shoved into a wall. They were here to help Amelia by finding clues about her murder and now, without a body, they couldn't help her.

They closed the wall and moved the shelf back to where it was originally placed and put the flashlight away. Making their way back up to the top of the stairs they made sure the coast was clear and headed back to Zack's room.

"What are we supposed to do now?" she said sitting on Zack's bed.

"I don't know Amy. Perhaps it is time that we told Agent Booth about what has happened." Zack's face sunk, "He is not going to like this."

He sat next to her on the bed and placed his arms around her shoulders.

"I'm just… I'm at a loss." She said sinking her head into her hands.

"It's okay." He soothed.

"No, it really isn't okay, Zack." She stood up, "I'm going back to my room. I'm really tired."

"Okay." He said, but she was already out the door.

He didn't understand why she was this disturbed by the disappearance of the body, but perhaps she and Amelia had been closer than she had let on. He stood up from his bed and removed the keys from his pocket and laid them on the dresser. He swiftly removed his shirt and threw it in his closet and sank himself into the mattress of his bed before tucking himself in between the sheets and slowly drifting off to sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey everyone! Here is the new chapter... and check out my other story that I have been working on called "Cheerman in the Woods". Although it is a BB story and all of you are diehard Zach fans like myself, I've been working on it for a while now and I think that it is going really well. Thanks for all of your wonderful reviews and I hope that you're enjoying this story as much as I am. **

**R&R please! Thanks again.**

Everything was black around him, and he was unable to see. He heard Amy's voice in his ear, "Come with me." She whispered.

Next, he found that he was sitting on a cot when he realized that he was dressed in his fatigues. He lifted his head from his hands and looked around him. He was there. He was back in Iraq. A nervousness came over him as he stood up in the large tent.

"This is a dream." He said to himself, "This isn't real." He walked towards the bathrooms were located the back of the tent when he heard a voice.

"Doctor Addy? We need to you come to the lab. There is another body that they need your help with."

Zack turned to see a young man in fatigues and crew cut hair, just like he had. Zack nodded and followed the gentleman out of the room. The sun was setting and the temperature had decreased quite a bit since before he had taken his nap. Zack followed the young man into another tent and towards the burned remains of a young woman who was a soldier.

"What assistance do you need?" he said looking up at the other employs of the government.

"We don't know if the fire was the cause of death or if the bullet was."

Zack rolled his eyes and looked at the bullet wound, "I don't know what business you have in a lab if you can't come up with that simple answer on your own. What are you? An undergraduate?"

"Yes, sir." The girl looked away embarrassed.

"Oh," Zack said, "Well that explains it." He had instantly regretted his forcefulness. Most of the people working with him were still in Graduate or undergraduate programs. They didn't know as much as he knew, and therefore every time they didn't know the answer they would come running to him for help. While he found it annoying, it felt good to finally be the most intelligent person in the lab without someone like Doctor Brennan hanging over his shoulder.

"I see the clotted blood." The assistant said definitively.

"And what does that mean?" Zack asked looking at her knowing that she knew the answer.

"The bullet is the cause of death." She said looking more embarrassed and ashamed that she had panicked.

Zack nodded at her and patted her on the back, "Good. Anything else?"

"No, that was it."

"I realize that you may be under stress, because most everyone here is, but you have to keep your thoughts clear. These people we examine have the right to be sent home and their families should know the truth. Rushing into an answer will only hinder their rights as American citizens. We can't be the cause of that."

"Thank you, Doctor Addy."

Zack nodded again and made his way toward the door when the ground began to shake and the sound of guns invaded their space. Zack hit the floor and looked around. In front of him, he saw Jared Beaner who was looking at him motioning for the Doctor to follow him. Zack did as he was told. He followed Private Beaner towards the door of the lab. Beaner was a guard for the lab, although he hated not being in the action, he and Zack seemed to mutually respect one another, more so than any of the others in the area.

Beaner put an arm around Zack's waist and pulled him up to meet him.

"Listen Doctor Addy, I'm going to go out there and make sure the coast is clear. When I give you the signal, you can come out and I want you to hide underneath the barracks. Okay?" he was shouting over the intense sounds of gunshots and rolling tanks.

"Why are you helping me?" Zack asked when he could hear the other lab techs screaming behind him.

"My momma always said that you can't let a brilliant mind go to waste. America needs you alive." Without another word the soldier crawled out of the tent and towards the barracks. Zack was watching him through the flap of the tent when he saw another man, not an American, attack the soldier and plunge a spear into his body cavity. After Private Beaner ceased moving, ceased living, the man set his body on fire and walked away.

Zack, making sure the coast was clear crawled out to meet him, trying to smother the fire, but he didn't have anything to do it with other than the sand on the ground. He was furiously trying to cover his body in sand, even though he knew it was already too late.

The only thing he could see were Beaner's vacant eyes staring up at him through the throng of smoke that enveloped his body.

Zack woke up drenched in his own sweat in the bed at the asylum. He had remembered the tragic events that occurred in Iraq. He immediately got up and ran to Doctor Freidman's office partially dressed and partially out of his mind. He ran past the nurses station, and when they saw him running, they quickly followed in pursuit of him yelling things that he couldn't understand or bother to listen to. He reached Doctor Freidman's door and began pounding on the thick wood.

Doctor Freidman opened the door looking frazzled at the sudden raucous that was occurring in the hall.

"I remember what happened." Zack said impatiently and out of breath. By that time the nurses had reached Zack and continued to yell at him. One of them had brought restraints and was attempting to place them around his arms which he fervently avoided by wailing his limbs around so no one could touch him.

When the doctor realized what Zack was trying to say to him he held up a hand to signal that it was okay, "Ladies, thank you, but this is extremely important." He said with an exhaustion in his eyes that was unlike anything that Zack had ever seen, "Come in, Zack." He said opening the door wider to let the boy pass through. The nurses stood in the hall dumbfounded. It was nearly three a.m. and the doctor was going to hold a session with one of his patients. The women departed from the doctors door confused about his actions and wondering what on earth could be so important that it couldn't wait till the next morning.

The doctor closed the door and walked behind his desk to take a seat. Zack was pacing the floor in front of the desk seemingly incapable of keeping his dream to himself. He frantically reviewed everything that he had seen in his dream. Waking from the nap, helping the young girl with the cause of death the explosions and gun fire, Private Beaner's demise. Everything.

"The body…" he said leaning on the doctors desk with both hands and letting his head drop towards the floor, "The body that I examined on July 26th was Private Beaner. He tried to save my life and I worked on his remains."

"Do you know what happened while you were going over his remains?"

"I… I think I had a panic attack." He said recalling the memory.

"Indeed, Zack," the doctor said leaning across his desk, "A somewhat violent panic attack."

"I remember." He said nodding his head, "Now I remember."


	17. Chapter 17

**Okay, so... this is the part where I say "I'm sorry, please don't hate me"... R&R please!!**

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"ZACK!" Angela squealed from across the room. He turned excitedly toward the voice he recognized as Angela's and watched her bounding in his direction. She skipped towards him and threw her arms around his neck holding him tightly to her. Zack laughed at the excitement of seeing her and smiled at Hodgins who was happily watching the reunion from behind Angela. After a moment, Angela pulled back and grabbed his face, "How ARE you?" she said, her smile beaming. Hodgins couldn't help but notice that she hadn't smiled like that in weeks.

"I'm okay." Zack said returning the largely genuine smile. Angela pulled him in again for another quick hug and then let go so that he could greet his best friend with yet another hug.

They sat at the table, Zack across from Angela and Hodgins, "Sweetie," Angela said, "The lab isn't the same without you. I miss you so much." She said grabbing his hand from across the table.

"I miss all of you too." He said with a smile which both Angela and Hodgins returned.

"How are you holding up?" Angela asked, her expression turning from happiness to concern.

"I'm doing okay. I actually had a break-through the other day. It seems as though I was repressing a memory from Iraq."

"Oh," she said half-heartedly, "That's good, I guess."

"Well," Hodgins piped up, "The quicker you get better, the quicker you can return home, right?"

"I doubt that. I have a sentence which I need to complete."

They all nodded and a slightly uncomfortable silence filled the void across the table. Angela and Hodgins were leaning forward and rested their arms on the table while Zack was comfortably leaning back in his chair, which was odd to Angela. In the recent year since he was back from Iraq, Zack's posture was impeccable and rigid to a point of being inhumane. Seeing his relaxed demeanor was comforting in a way, knowing that he was getting better; better able to assimilate himself into society. Posture was a small step, but it was a step in the right direction and she couldn't have been happier about the minute change.

"Well," she said, clearing her throat, "You look great, almost like the Zack I knew before the war. Except, of course, without the goofy hair." They all laughed at the statement.

"So, the results that you wanted," Hodgins said reaching into his bag to take out the missing persons report.

"Wait," Angela said, "I want to know what this is about first."

Hodgins and Zack looked at her with confusion and surprise etched across their faces.

"You told her?" Zack asked, somewhat distraut.

"No! Dude, I don't…" Hodgins said looking back and forth between Angela and Zack.

"Gentlemen!" Angela stated attempting to calm the situation, "You should know by now that I am far more perceptive than most." She then looked down at the table nervously and then regained her confidence to look back up with a mischievous smile on her face, "And I may have been snooping around your desk when you went to the bathroom. But it serves you right for writing his name on the envelope!"

Both men hung their heads in disappointment. Their secrecy failed and they felt like they had been caught passing notes by the teacher.

Zack shook his head, "I can't tell you. It would be best if you didn't know."

"Oh no!" Angela said, "I am not letting you take my husband down."

"Husband?" Hodgins said perking up.

"What?" she said casually, "I'm just trying to get used to it."

Hodgins nodded his head in approval, "Okay then. You will NOT bring her husband down!"

Angela stared at Zack, demanding the story. Finally Zack gave in, "Fine." He said taking a heaved breath, "Me and my friend found an exorbitant amount of blood in the boiler room of the asylum which led us to the discovery of a body hidden inside of the wall. That is where the blood sample came from. That is who I had you identify."

Angela stared at him in disbelief and Hodgins dropped his head and shook it sadly.

"You have to tell Booth." Angela said quickly.

"I was planning to, but I've used up my only phone call for the week with Hodgins. Besides, the body has since gone missing."

"Oh… my God." Angela stated looking away from Zack.

"I want you to swear on the life of the trophy that you didn't do it." Hodgins said momentarily looking up at Zack.

"The body had been in the wall for nearly five years. I don't have to swear on anything to prove it. I wasn't anywhere near here when she was killed."

"Fine." He said dropping his head back down.

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Angela asked.

"Well, I found it while kind of… well… yes… I was breaking the rules." Zack huffed, growing upset that his friends were acting like he was the one who killed the girl, "Can I see the report now?" he asked impatiently.

Hodgins reached into his bag and pulled out the file. Zack took it out of his hands and situated it on the table in front of him and opened it. The picture was right on top. She was a young girl, petite with curly dirty blonde hair. She was smiling at someone out of frame, but her face was fully visible. Zack's face dropped. He felt every nerve in his body come alive with adrenaline and he shook his head in disbelief.

Angela and Hodgins came out of their momentary misery when they noticed Zach's reaction to the picture.

"What is it buddy?" Hodgins said with the sound of concern in his voice.

Zack forcefully pushed the file back at Hodgins, "This isn't right. That is not the girl in the wall. That isn't her."

"Zack,that is the match to the blood sample you gave me. Amelia Webber age seventeen. She would now be twenty two years old."

Zack jumped up knocking his chair over in the process, "I'm telling you that THAT is NOT right."

"Zack," Angela said soothingly, "Do you know her?"

Zack looked at the picture again and shook his head in disbelief, "That is Amy. She's my friend. She is the one I found the body with."

Hodgins and Angela looked at each other with concern upon their faces. Angela stood up and went over to Zack placing an arm around him, "Sweetie, you're on a men's only ward."


	18. Chapter 18

**Enjoy the Chapter! Thanks for reviewing and I hope you stick with me!!**

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Angela and Hodgins left the hospital in a state of frenzy and shock. They knew that Zack wasn't well despite Sweet's rant about how he wasn't insane, but they were utterly shocked that he was this deep in denial and delirium. They drove back to the lab in complete silence attempting to put together the puzzle pieces of what had happened to their friend. Everything it seemed fell out of place once Zack had come back from Iraq.

They didn't know what to believe anymore. Clearly, they had the blood sample from the missing girl, but she had been found years ago. Was there a body in the boiler room of the asylum or was Zack hallucinating the body as well as his friend who helped him find it? Was this all some sort of diversionary tactic that Zack's mind was playing on him so that he didn't have to face his real problems? They didn't know the answer to any of these questions, but they knew exactly what they had to do.

When they arrived back at the lab, Angela went straight to Brennan's office.

"Sweetie." She said urgently upon finding Brennan at her desk buried in a pile of paperwork.

"What is it Angela?" Brennan asked, seeing the urgency in her friends features. She stood up from her desk and met Angela halfway between her desk and her door. She grabbed her friend's arms and attempted to look Angela in the eyes. She could see that her friend was near tears and avoiding eye contact, "Is everything okay? What happened?"

"I need to talk to Booth. Immediately." Brennan nodded, knowing that if Angela was this adamant about talking to Booth, something was terribly wrong that neither of them could fix on their own.

Brennan rushed back to her desk, digging her cell phone out of her pocket and calling Booth. Her head was down and she rested her hand on her lower back peering over at Angela with immense concern in her eyes. Booth picked up on the other end.

"Booth." She heard him say.

"Hey, I need you to come to the lab right now." She said sternly, attempting to relay the gravity of the situation merely in tone.

"What is this about?" he said, picking up on her intonation and suddenly becoming very concerned, "Is everyone okay?"

"Booth, I just need you to get over here. I'm not sure what is going on."

"I'll be right there." He said without hesitation.

Brennan hung up the phone just as Hodgins came into her office, "What is going on Doctor Hodgins?" Brennan asked walking toward Angela and protectively putting an arm around her friend's back.

"It's about Zack. Something is wrong with him." He said breathlessly.

Brennan looked at them quizzically, "Clearly, Doctor Hodgins. That is why he is in a mental health facility."

"No. You don't understand. He found a body, but he was hallucinating."

Brennan's brow was furrowed as though she were teetering between anger and confusion, "Your point being?"

Booth ran into Brennan's office and stopped resting his hands on his knees and breathing heavily, "Okay, I'm here, what is wrong?"

"Did you run all the way here?" Brennan asked sounding surprised.

"Well, I drove, and then ran up here. You sounded like you were in imminent danger!" he exclaimed.

"I'm in the lab, Booth. What kind of danger could I be in?"

"Well, I don't know. I seem to remember a bomb exploding in the lab not too long ago!" he retorted.

Brennan rolled her eyes and looked back at Angela and Hodgins, "They said that Zack is hallucinating dead bodies."

Booth straightened up and looked confused, "And that is important because?"

"That is exactly what I was wondering."

They both stared at Angela and Hodgins waiting for an explanation.

Hodgins interjected, "We don't think that he hallucinated a dead body. He gave me a blood sample of a girl who went missing a few years back. It was dried blood."

Booth stepped towards Hodgins, "So you're telling me that Zack found dried blood in a HOSPITAL?"

Angela came out of her tearful traumatized state and stepped in between Hodgins and Booth, "Look," she said trying to bring down Booth's temper, "If you don't check out his claim and there is a body, then you're letting someone get away with murder. I think that you should at least take a look. If there is nothing there that suggests there was a murder, then all you did was waste some time."

"What do you mean by 'if there is nothing there'. Shouldn't there be a body?" Booth's temper had calmed but he was still playing on the defensive.

"Well, that is the thing." Hodgins said, "Supposedly, the body has been removed from it's crime scene."

Booth looked up at the ceiling and ran his hand over his face, "Oh, that is just great."

"What do you think, Booth?" Brennan said, her arms now folded across her chest defensively. Booth shook his head and let it drop down to his chest and exhaled loudly.

"I guess we don't really have a choice." He said reluctantly, "Get your stuff, Bones."


	19. Chapter 19

**You all are unbelievable!! haha. Thanks for the reviews. I'm so glad you all don't hate me! YAY! **

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They arrived at the institution to find Zack sitting in a corner of the common room on the floor. He looked vacant as they approached him. He was staring at a point that was undetermined and the color had drained itself from his cheecks.

"Zack." Booth called; both him and Brennan walking up to him cautiously. Zack looked up at him with only a vague sign of recognition appearing on his face. Normally, Booth would have gone off at him for withholding information that he should have been notified about. Zack knew better than to call Hodgins before informing the authorities of a possible murder, but he couldn't really blame him. In the state that he was in, Booth knew that logic wasn't necessarily on Zack's mind anymore. Especially with all of the new information they had just received about his condition, he knew that the best way to talk to Zack would be to roll with the punches and try to be as sensitive to the situation as possible. Brennan stood behind Booth with her arms crossed over her chest and Booth knelt down to Zack's eye level and spoke to him softly, "Hey buddy. Hodgins told me and Bones about what you found."

Zack looked away from him and shook his head, "I was hallucinating. You shouldn't trust my judgment."

Booth nodded his head, "Well, regardless, I think you should show me where you found her, just incase you were right."

"She isn't there anymore. She isn't anywhere anymore. I looked for her." He said with a tear rolling down his cheek.

Booth exhaled and looked up at Brennan for help to which she only shrugged. She didn't know how to talk to Zack anymore much less in his state of mental illness. Booth looked back at Zack and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Come on, buddy. Show me where you found her."

Zack cleared his throat and stood up, followed by Booth. They three of them made their way down the hallway past the patient rooms and arrived at the boiler room door. Zack took the set of keys out of his pocket and began to place the key in the lock when Booth and Brennan exchanged looks of shock.

"Zack," Booth said, "How did you get a set of keys to the building?"

Zack exhaled loudly, his eyes now filled with tears that were running down his face, he turned to Booth and Brennan and shrugged, "I… I have no idea." He said with a raspy unclear voice. Brennan covered her mouth with her hand, tears now coming to her eyes. Zack looked at her apologetically and returned to unlocking the door.

He opened the door for them and they made their way down the rickety metal stairs. Booth placed a comforting arm around her shoulder. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Zack moved in front of them and guided them into the supply room where he turned on the lights revealing the shelves, one of which was now blocking the cut open wall and the blood that had been on the floor was cleaned up. Zack immediately brought his hands to his head and crouched down on the floor, his breathing becoming panicked.

Brennan crouched down beside him placing her hand on his shoulder, "Show us Zack. Please." Her voice was near whimpering. He stood up slightly shaking. He was nervous about what he would find. Had it all been a hallucination or was the murderer, after five years of not caring finally covering up his tracks? Zack began to move the shelves, and when Booth realized what he was doing, he gave Zack a hand. They had successfully moved the shelves which revealed the seam in the wall. Partially relieved that he may not have hallucinated this, he gestured to Doctor Brennan that the body had been behind the wall. She snapped on her latex gloves and carefully opened the wall. Zack moved toward the other end of the room and crossed his arms, afraid of what she was going to say. She examined the inside of the wall and Booth came up beside her. She reached down in between the sheetrock and pulled out a pair of old partially rotten slippers and placing them in an evidence bag which she placed next to her bag.

"What do you think, Bones?" Booth asked.

"We need a forensics team in here. I'm not positive, but I believe that there was a body hidden inside these walls for the entirety of its decomposition."

Zack turned around and sighed in relief. Brennan quickly moved towards Zack and threw her arms around him in a tight hug. He removed his hands from their folded position across his chest and placed them around her waist, pulling her in tighter.

"I'm so sorry, Zack." She whispered into his ear, "I'm so sorry."


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey y'all! Thanks for the reviews. I'm glad you don't hate me. The whole Amy plot line was planned from the get go, so I left clues in the earlier chapters like the book she was reading and the situation with the keys and how she never got caught going to his room (which will all be resolved) so I'm glad you all are enjoying it and THANK YOU SO MUCH for being so supportive of my writing. You all are brilliant! **

* * *

"Wake up."

Zack heard a voice say. It felt like he had only been sleeping for five minutes even though it was three o'clock in the morning. He stirred from his sleep to find Amy on top of him. She was pinning his arms to the bed and straddling his torso. Her hair was tucked behind her ears and her face was only inches from his. He turned his head away from her and pinned his eyes shut.

"Go away. You're not real" he said, every word coming from his mouth relaying the inscrutable pain that he was feeling.

"You have to listen to me." She pleaded.

He shook his head back and forth and writhed underneath the pressure of her body. There was no escape. He couldn't get free from her grasp. How was it that she could touch him? How was it that she could be here talking to him when she was dead?

"How could you do this to me?" he whispered, eyes still shut. A tear formed in his eye and slid down the side of his face.

"I never meant for this to happen. I swear." She said with tears in her eyes, "I didn't mean to fall in love with you. I didn't mean for you to fall in love with me." She said weakly.

"Why?" he said finally opening his eyes, "How did this happen?"

"I don't know." She said truthfully.

"What are you? Have I been hallucinating you all this time?"

She looked away from him for a moment and then regained eye contact, "I think that I am partially a hallucination and partially," she paused and rolled her eyes, "a disembodied spirit."

Zack scoffed, "Ghosts aren't real."

Amy grinned, "Well," she said, "I don't really think you're in a position to argue."

They stared at each other for a moment and then shared in a small laugh. She pushed her upper body off the bed and let his hands go free. She sat back on his legs and he sat up. She wiped the tears away from her eyes and exhaled.

"I don't understand." Zack said shaking his head, "Why did all of this happen? Am I really this crazy? Am I really talking to myself right now?"

"I can assure you that I am actually here, not that that is worth all that much." She paused, "Think about it like this: you knew things about my life before Hodgins brought that missing persons report to you. There is no possible way you could have possibly known those things otherwise."

Zack nodded, "This experience goes against everything that I have ever been taught as a scientist."

"You've been taught about the afterlife in graduate school?"

"Well," Zack smiled, "No. Not when you put it like that."

She returned his smile and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I still don't understand why you are here." He said looking away from her.

"My best guess is that, I needed you to find my body, and you needed me to, in some sense, humanize you. To help you heal."

"How did I get those keys? You gave them to me, but now that seems highly unlikely."

Amy nodded, "This used to be my room, Zack. Five years ago, this ward was a women's ward. I hid them in a loose tile underneath the night table."

"When I came here, I found them after moving the furniture around." He said resting his head in his hands, now remembering the event, "Who killed you?"

"I can't tell you that." She whispered.

"You don't remember?" he asked looking up at her.

"No, I do remember, but I can't tell you. If I tell you, you will tell Agent Booth and the investigation will be ruined because you became privy to information from a… ghost. That won't hold up in court." She smiled.

"I doubt that anyone is going to believe a man in a psychiatric facility anyway." He said, "So, is that story true? The one about how you got the keys?"

"No, not exactly." She said getting up and moving towards the edge of his bed, "I did not voluntarily have sex with an orderly. He fell in love with me and the sick bastard was delusional enough to think that I reciprocated his feelings. Nightly he would come into my room and force himself upon me. One night, I managed to snag his keys and hid them." Amy rubbed her eyes vigorously in attempt to salvage herself from crying again, "A few weeks later, I stood up to him, wouldn't let him do it again, and he bashed my head in with a lamp and hid me in the boiler room." She rolled her eyes and looked at him, "No one has keys to that room anymore, Zack. That is why he didn't bother to even clean up the mess. His father covered the whole mess up for him and they wrote in my chart that I had escaped and ran away."

Zack was staring at her. He couldn't believe that she had been through so much and yet she still maintained a pleasant disposition. He always believed that Doctor Brennan was the strongest woman he had ever met, but now Amy was taking the title.

"I'm sorry." He said moving to the edge of the bed and wrapping his arms around her. She buried her head into the crook of his neck and inhaled his scent.

They stayed like that for a while. It could have been minutes, hours, but they both wish they could have stayed that way for days, years even.

"I have to go, Zack." She whispered.

"No. Stay with me. Stay here." He pleaded.

"I can't, Zack. You know I can't."

"I don't want you to go." He said gripping onto her tighter.

She tried to push herself away but was unsuccessful, "Please Zack, don't make this harder than it needs to be."

He held onto her for a moment longer and then slowly released his hold on her, "Just stay here until I fall asleep, Amy. Please." He pleaded.

Amy nodded her head and he moved to lay down on his bed again. She laid down next to him and put her hand on his cheek and he closed his eyes and fell asleep.


	21. Chapter 21

**As always, thanks for the reviews. You all are too amazing. Enjoy!**

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Booth stepped into the ward feeling as though his stomach had hopped up into his throat. He always felt uncomfortable in hospitals, but this particular hospital really put his nerves on edge. There was always this sinking feeling that he could possibly end up in a place like this, which is why, even though he remained hesitant around Sweets, he was willing to commit to therapy rather than reject the idea as a whole. As long as he maintained his life, thoughts and feelings under the scrutinizing eye of a psychologist, he knew that he had a better chance of not going completely insane later in life. He stopped just inside of the doorway for a moment, having been greeted by Doctor Freidman in the entranceway, "Doctor Freidman, how are you?"

"Just fine Agent Booth, do you need anymore information from me?" the doctor asked. The doctor appeared just as tired now as he had when he and Brennan had questioned him the day that Zack showed them where the body had been kept.

"No, sir. I'm just here visiting my friend." Booth said using every inch of his energy to plaster a disingenuous smile on his face.

"Ah, yes, Zack. He's a good kid." The doctor nodded, "Sad really, what happened to him."

"Yeah." Booth agreed, "But it shows the magnitude of what can happen to a person after having been in war."

"Indeed." The doctor said, "Well, I must go. I have a meeting." The doctor said pointing out the doorway that Booth had just entered from. Booth nodded his head and watched the Doctor leave. He turned his head, catching Zack's figure staring at him from halfway down the hall. Booth's quickened pace towards Zack insinuating to him that he had come across some information about Amy's death. Zack sprung to his feet and met him halfway.

"Agent Booth!" Zack called nearly tripping over his own feet.

"Hey, Zack." Booth said stopping in front of him, "I need that set of keys that you had. Did they confiscate them from you?"

"No, the only people who know about that set of keys is you, Doctor Brennan, myself and…"

"And?" Booth asked impatiently.

Zack shook his head, "Never mind, that's all." Zack turned back to his room, Booth following behind him. He opened up his top dresser drawer and pulled out the keys. Booth grabbed them out of his hand and shoved them deep into his coat pocket. He slapped Zack on the arm and turned to leave. Zack quickly followed behind him, "Is this about the fact that no one has a set of keys to the boiler room?"

Booth spun around and looked Zack dead in the eyes, "How did you know about that?"

Zack cleared his throat, "It seems that my hallucination was… not exactly a hallucination."

Booth looked at Zack skeptically and took a step towards him, "What are you trying to say, Zack?"

"It… it doesn't matter. Just go. You have a case to solve."

Booth patted Zack on the shoulder again and took off down the hallway towards the exit.

* * *

Booth ran into the Jeffersonian and tossed the keys into the gloved hands of Hodgins, who quickly carried the keys to his work station to process them. There was a small possibility that he would be able to recover trace evidence as to whose hands the keys would have been in.

Booth made his way to Brennan's office, to see her reading the case report that the FBI forensics team had written up about the possible crime scene. They had been able to confirm that the blood on the floor had indeed belonged to Amelia Webber as well as the emulsified substances that had been preserved inside the wall through decomposition. Brennan was positive now that there had been a body inside that wall, that it had recently been moved, and that Zack was the only one who had been able to access the body as of yet.

"What is going on, Bones?" Booth asked leaning into her office.

"It doesn't make any sense, Booth." She said letting out an exhausted sigh, "Zack is the only one that we know who could have the keys to that boiler room. You're positive that none of the janitorial staff or nurses could have a key to that room?"

"Positive." He said moving into her office and putting his hands in his pockets, "All of the keys to that room were rescinded around the time that Amelia was murdered."

"Well, Who took them all back?" she asked.

"A doctor who has long since retired. A man by the name of Doctor Goldman."

Brennan swiveled in her chair and stared at her computer screen. Her hand instinctively jutted towards the mouse and she loaded up Google onto her browser.

"What are you doing?" Booth asked, taking another step closer to her.

"I'm googling him." There was barely a hint of thoughtfulness to her words, which indicated to Booth that her "genius wheels" were in the process of turning.

"What good could that possibly do?" he said leaning over her shoulder.

A page popped up on her browser with a list of information about Doctor Goldman. Brennan and Booth stared at the picture of the Doctor on his homepage seeing the familiar face standing next to him. Brennan turned her head to look at Booth, "It looks like googling actually has done us a lot of good."


	22. Chapter 22

**In my third eye... I see a reviewer's concern from a while back being brought back into play in this chapter.**

**Nice reading comprehension skills! haha.**

**Hope you enjoy this short chapter... as you know, I will update soon so no worries. As my professor likes to say, "DON'T PANIC!!"**

**R&R my lovlies!**

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"Zack," Doctor Freidman said leaning across his desk looking down and with one hand patting the cover of the journal that he had kept, "Who is Amy?"

Zack looked at the man curiously, "Why? Did I write about her?"

Doctor Freidman met his eyes, "Yes. You mentioned her in one of the passages in your journal."

Zack looked away from the doctor and attempted to muster some sort of excuse for the mention of her name. Could he say that she was an old friend? Could he say that he accidentally wrote that name instead of someone else's?

Doctor Freidman cleared his throat, attempting to regain the attention of his patient, "Zack, are you seeing someone?"

The question was vague and generic with a number of possible meanings lingering behind the words. It was a trick question, and Zack didn't like the implication of trickery behind the doctor's tone.

"I don't know what you mean, doctor." He said smugly, "You're going to have to be more specific. This is a men's ward, so I could not possibly be dating anyone unless you are suggesting that I am homosexual. But the name is clearly a girls name, so that wouldn't be a rational explanation."

The doctor leaned back in his chair slightly and studied the stoic face that sat before him. He seemed defensive and angry, "No, that is not what I was implying. I meant; are you having hallucinations?"

Zack shifted subconsciously in his chair, "No." he stated boldly, and technically he was telling the truth because he currently was not hallucinating.

"Can you tell me about this girl, Amy?"

"I am capable of telling you about her, but I don't want to." He said defiantly.

"Zack," the doctor said moving the journal from his desk to the right upper hand drawer and locking it inside, "If you aren't willing to talk to me, then you have no chance of recovery."

Zack sighed in defeat, "Amy is a girl. I haven't known her very long."

"What does she look like?" he asked, maintaining a professional demeanor.

"She has blonde curly hair, green eyes, petite. She often is dressed in white." Zack shrugged at the doctor, insinuating that there was nothing particularly special about this girl, despite his actual opinion of her.

The doctor leaned back in his chair, again studying the man seated across from him. He abruptly stood up from his chair and walked around his desk to sit on the edge of it right in front of him. Zack knew that this was a method of intimidation that he would not succumb to. The elevated height at which the desk offered the doctor was a means in which to tower over the patient and portray a feeling of inconsequential power that he held over Zack. Zack leaned back in his chair lazily, letting the doctor know that he had no power over him. In reality, Zack was physically intimidated by the man, but he knew that he surpassed him in all other areas, mainly intellectual. The doctor stared at the boy condescendingly and a sinister smile appeared on his face, "Is Amy's full name Amelia?"

Zack's eyes widened, and with his subtle confession in his eyes, the doctor swiftly pulled a syringe out of his pocket and jabbed it in Zack's neck before he had time to defend himself. Zack saw the anger and sudden strength in the doctor's expression just as he lost consciousness.


	23. Chapter 23

**Hey all! I can feel your tension and anxiety growing the longer I postpone the posting of this chapter, and because I am such a merciful person: 'Tis posted! haha**

**Enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think! **

**As always with love,**

**Simoph52**

Brennan shot up from her office chair and turned to face Booth, "Doctor Freidman is Doctor Goldman's son. Goldman covered up the murder of Amelia Webber for his son."

Booth put his hands on his hips and furrowed his brow. Hodgins ran into Brennan's office Holding up a file and the set of keys in an evidence bag, "I just thought you should know, I ran the keys for trace evidence and found the DNA for a number of people."

Booth turned to face the out of breath Hodgins, "Who exactly?"

"Well," he started, "Besides the obvious, you and Zack. I ran the other two DNA samples through CODIS and found a match for one other besides our victim."

"Who, Hodgins?" Brennan said stepping forward and raising her voice.

"Doctor Freidman." He stated.

Booth and Brennan looked at each other. They had him. Now, not only was there circumstantial evidence, but DNA evidence linking Freidman to the murder of Amelia.

"Grab your stuff, Bones." Booth said grabbing the information out of Hodgins hand. Brennan quickly gathered her things and they were out the door.

Booth and Brennan hurried to the SUV and headed for the hospital. Booth used his sirens, nearly killing them along the way which Brennan was not pleased about. They reached the hospital and burst through the doors straight for Zack's wing.

They immediately went to the nurses station so they could locate the whereabouts of the doctor when they noticed that all of the nurses appeared frantic.

"Excuse me." Booth said attempting to get their attention. They all froze, looking up at the FBI man who had been frequenting their ward as of late, "I need to speak to Doctor Freidman."

"He went home for the night. Bless his heart." One woman said quickly brushing past him. Booth looked at Brennan and they both turned to follow after the nurse who was practically running down the hallway.

"Ma'am," Booth inquired, "I'm going to need his address."

She quickly turned on her heels and glared at the FBI agent, "Does it look like I have time to be digging up addresses for you right now? We have a patient missing and that poor doctor is in need of a good night sleep. After days on end of helping these poor souls…"

Booth held his hand up insisting that the woman stop talking, "Did you say that a patient is missing?" he asked.

"Yes." She huffed.

"What patient?" Brennan asked stepping in front of Booth.

"It's none of your concern." She said starting to turn away from them.

"Hey!" Booth yelled, he held out his badge to the woman and wiggled it in front of her face, "Just in case you have forgotten, It is my concern. Tell us who it is or I will arrest you."

Brennan turned back to him and whispered, "What would you arrest her for?"

Booth looked at her and shrugged slightly, "Being annoying, Bones. That is not the point though," he looked back at the nurse with a scowl, "I need a name, now!"

"Doctor Zack Addy has gone missing from the ward." She said crossing her arms, "But you know how these people can be. They loose track…"

"Not Zack." Brennan said taking a threatening step toward the nurse. She turned to Booth, "He has Zack, Booth. He must."

Booth looked into Brennan's eyes and saw the tinge of pleading cross her face. He looked up at the nurse, "I need that address immediately."

* * *

Zack woke up on the floor of a room. He could feel the fibers of a carpet roughly digging into his skin and the hard surface causing discomfort in his back as if he had been lying there for a while. It was cold and there was no light. He heard the pacing of footsteps somewhere in the room and he felt pain in his neck, throbbing pain which he couldn't remember the source of. He felt movement on his face and someone had lifted his eyelids open. It was Doctor Freidman. He found that the room wasn't dark at all but that he had been unable to move his eyelids on his own. The doctor taped both of his eyelids open and resumed his pacing in front of the boy. He looked exhausted; he gingerly rubbed his face and pointed at Zack in an accusatory manner, "You have no idea, do you?" he paused and looked at Zack, "No idea." He laughed slightly, revealing a pseudo-psychotic break in his affect. Zack's brain began working over time; He couldn't remember much of what had happened that day. He tried to remember it all from the beginning. He recalled having breakfast, he recalled seeing Agent Booth and giving him the set of keys, but after that there wasn't much he could recollect.

Doctor Freidman was still pacing, now with his hand on his forehead apparently warding off a headache or migraine, "I loved her." He said, "She loved me too, but she wouldn't admit it. She made me so angry." He said grinding his teeth and clutching his head with both hands, "She was a slut. She told me what happened to her before she got to the asylum, ya know, did she tell you that, Zacky?" he asked sarcastically, knowing full well that his captive was unable to answer the question.

Zack tried to shift his position and faintly remembered being stabbed with a needle. He remembered Doctor Freidman stabbing him with a syringe; he deduced that the drug he was injected with was most likely flunitrazepam otherwise known as rohypnol. The drug can be used as a sedative and in high doses can cause amnesia. He felt his anger rising in himself knowing that not only had he been taken advantage of by a medical professional, but also that that medical professional, a psychiatrist and state employee was not only psychotic himself, but also a murderer.

"See," the doctor continued, "I was working at the hospital as an orderly when I was going through med school. My dad was the chief at the time and he said that a little hands on practice would do me some good. That is where she and I met, and ever since that day she made me crazy. Oh, boy. She is so beautiful, right?" The doctor stopped and looked past Zack and his face became peaceful for a moment. He walked over Zack's body and leaned over him, moving Zack's head to look behind him, where he saw the remains of Amy sitting up against the wall, dressed. The doctor looked at her with a smile and then back down at Zack with a scowl, "Right, Zack?" He slapped the boy's face softly, in an almost friendly way, stood and went back to his original stance in front of Zack. He cleared his throat and jerked his collar attempting to stretch it for comfort, "Well, one night I went to her room, and she told me that she didn't want me. She said that she didn't feel safe around me, and that I should stay the hell away from her. Well, I guess her instincts were right. She made me so frustrated; no one had ever infuriated me like that before." He grabbed his own hair and began pulling on it, "I tried so hard, Zack." He whimpered, "I tried to make her love me, but she wouldn't do it. She wouldn't love me." A single tear slid down the doctor's face which he quickly wiped away. He immediately seemed to regain control of his emotions; or as it seemed, devoid of any emotion and he stared Zack dead in the eye, "So I punished her." His voice was almost monstrous and growling at him and a flash of violence and depravity glinted in his eyes, he stepped toward Zack and knelt beside him, "And now you are trying to steal her from me."

**All of the pieces coming into place?? YAY for resolutions of conflict! More to come! **


	24. Chapter 24

**Okay so here is a lil' BB action... I know, I know... you're all like "Where is Zack?" and "I'm sick of BB fluff." me too... but I love them anyways and hope that they get together soon or they might just implode from sexual tension. giggle**

**Another thing I want to bring up... Kitale wrote me a review questioning a scene that took place early on in the story with Booth, Zack and Amy. When Booth visits Zack for the first time, Amy seemingly introduces herself to Booth and Booth says something to the effect of, "You gettin' any action?".**

**This was not a mistake in my writing or a plot hole. I did it on purpose. Booth doesn't actually acknowledge her presance and when he asks Zack about "action" while most automatically think 'sexual relations' there is an alternate use for that slang and it is... duh duh duh DAH... gambling!! hahaha Oh, my poor Booth and his addictions. **

**Once again, thank you guys for being such faithful readers. I've really enjoyed reading your reviews and writing for you guys... BUT it ain't over yet!! **

**R&R as always... 3**

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The sun was near setting when Booth's SUV came to a screeching halt outside of the home of Doctor Freidman. Brennan turned to observe the house that sat outside of her passenger side window. The house was maintained but was completely lacking in personal style. The flower beds were green but small and sparsely planted, the walk was dull and uneven and the driveway hadn't been re-done in a number of years leaving divots and cracks tracing their way from the base of the walk to the garage that was set back from the house in the back yard. Had she believed in psychology and profiling, she would agree with Sweets if he had said that a murderer had lived here. The white paint that clung to the siding was cracked and withering away but was only noticeable from up close and there was a thick residue of dirt that encased the windows.

She opened the passenger side door as quietly as she could and cautiously stepped toward the house. Booth came up behind her, placing his hand on her back forcing her to walk at a faster pace than she had originally intended. He hoped up the concrete steps and removed his gun that was placed at his hip. He swung the metal screen door open and knocked loudly and impatiently on the wooden door that sat behind it. There was a door ornament that swung quickly back and forth at the sudden jolt of Booth's fist. It was a wooden pink angel with blonde curly hair and doe-like eyes holding a banner that had the word, "Welcome" stenciled in. Booth pounded on the door again and when there was no answer, he put a hand in front of Temperance motioning for her to step back.

"This is the FBI!" he yelled, "Answer the door or I'll break it down!" There was no answer, again. The agent yelled again, "I'm giving you ten seconds to open this door! Ten, nine, eight!" before he reached seven he had kicked the door forcefully and it swung violently into the house, knocking over a canister with umbrellas and other assorted trinkets inside. Booth looked back at Brennan, questioning why she wasn't already inside when he noticed her somewhat stunned expression, "What?" he said, smiling at her and holding back a small laugh that would assuredly make her angry.

She shrugged her shoulders and hoped up the cement stairs and entered the dwelling with Booth. He moved in front of her casing the area, gun held up in case of a surprise attack. Brennan's face contorted and she crossed her arms in front of her chest, "I don't think anyone is home, Booth." She said with a slight sadness invading her statement, "I'll go look upstairs." She said, turning toward the staircase which was laid a few feet from the main entrance.

"Like hell you are." Booth exclaimed, catching her arm and pulling back towards him, "You are not leaving my side, do you understand?"

"Booth, I am perfectly capable…"

He turned to her and rolled his eyes, dropping the gun to his side, "Take care of yourself, I know. But I am not willing to take the risk. You are staying with me."

Brennan scoffed, pulling her arms into her body tighter, "Fine. Maybe if you would just…"

"Let you have a gun? Not in my lifetime, Bones."

She was becoming irritated that he was finishing her sentences but followed behind him anyway, knowing that he only wanted to ensure her safety. They moved into the living room, his gun once again outstretched in front of him, securing the area before they moved onto the next. They had been through every room in the house, every closet, every cabinet in the kitchen that was large enough to keep a person hostage, even the garage and basement. Zack was nowhere in this house and neither was the doctor.

Brennan stormed out of the house and onto the front lawn. Booth followed behind her, shutting the front door before chasing after her.

"Where could he be, Booth?" she yelled at him. He knew that she wasn't angry at him; she was angry at the situation, and the best way, the easiest way for Temperance Brennan to show her emotions, to let him know she was scared, was to yell at him.

"I don't know." He answered honestly. He dug his cell phone out of his pocket and made a call to the FBI. Brennan paced on the front lawn, aggravated, scared, confused, reluctant, but most of all, sad.

"I need everyone to be on the look out for this guy." Booth said, "He may have a hostage with him and he is the only suspect in the murder of Amelia Webber, who was also a patient at the Asylum." He hung up the phone and walked toward Brennan. He could see the mixed emotions that had come to her face, changing from one to the next with each step that she took. He wanted to make her stop feeling so guilty; he wanted to make her understand that this was not her fault. He pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her. She responded by digging her head into his chest and holding onto him tightly, afraid that if she let go she might not be able to live much longer. He bent his neck down to her ear and whispered to her, "We have to go, Bones." He slid his fingers through her hair, "We have to find Zack." She nodded and looked up at him squeezing him one last time before breaking contact with him. They walked back to the car, got in, and sped off into the setting sun, praying that Zack was still alive and hoping that they would find him before it was too late.


	25. Chapter 25

**I love this chapter for the mere kick-a--edness that Amy is. That is all...**

**Enjoy the chapter... more soon.**

**R&R please!**

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Zack's breath hitched when he heard the door slam shut behind the doctor. He had been lying there, on the cold concrete floor for what seemed like hours. The tape had been removed from his eyes, and he could feel the sticky residue that was left behind as he blinked. His head was throbbing and the puncture wound in his neck was becoming intolerable. The irritation in his eyes was also becoming intolerable and his body reacted to the pain by forcing tears. He was not voluntarily crying, but there he was on the ground, bawling, trying to figure out what he could possibly do to call for help or find a means of escape. Eighty six percent of his body was still incapable of movement. He now had the power to move both arms and his head, but it was shaky at best. He pulled his upper body into a sitting position and studied the room around him. He knew where he was. He was in the boiler room at the hospital. He couldn't fathom how the doctor had managed it considering it was still technically a crime scene, regardless of the fact that the FBI was unable to locate the body of Amelia Webber, and quite honestly, it was moronic for Doctor Freidman to keep Zack somewhere that the FBI would most likely catch him. He painfully rolled his eyes at the thought. He knew that he was far more intelligent than the doctor, but this was downright… well, insane.

The air conditioning for the asylum kicked on with a loud bang, and Zack jumped slightly having been roused from his deep thoughts about the situation. He looked out the small rectangular window that sat high on the wall seeing that it was nighttime. When he looked away, he was surprised to see Amy sitting next to him. She was looking at the ground. Her feet were tucked underneath her and she was wearing the white nightgown that she had been wearing the night that she had come to visit him. She looked beautiful.

"Amy!" he whispered.

"I'm sorry about this." She said, not looking up at him.

"It's not your fault. At least this way the FBI can arrest him for your murder."

"He's going to kill you, Zack." She said grimly.

Zack froze momentarily, "If he does, then I'll be with you. If not, then I will live. Either way, I'm okay with that."

She looked up at him finally with a saddened expression, "You can't die, Zack. No matter how much I would love for you to be here with me, you have a life to live. And you need to live it." She protested.

Zack nodded. The door to the boiler room swung open again and Zack flopped his upper body back on the ground so that the doctor wouldn't know that he had regained movement. Amy had disappeared. The door shut tightly behind him and he descended the stairs in a calculating manner. Zack counted his footsteps in an attempt to calm his nerves, but it only made him more anxious, knowing that with each number, the doctor was getting closer.

"I guess it's really a good thing that I went to medical school." The doctor said in a playful voice, "They teach you a lot of important things there concerning the medical field. But the thing they don't realize is that they teach you exactly how to murder someone without being caught." He laughed. It sounded like a disturbed child giggling over a cat that he killed in his backyard for sport. It was high pitched, frivolous and disturbed; highly disturbed.

The doctor spread a sheet of plastic on the floor next to Zack, where Amy had been sitting just moments before hand. He smoothed out the plastic out and opened a medical kit which had been mere feet away from Zack since he had woken up.

"Gordon." They both heard a voice say. The doctor's head shot up and he looked around but saw nothing. He ran his fingers through his hair and proceeded to take out a syringe, "Gordon." The voice came again. The doctor turned again, but saw no one. It was only him and Zack. The boiler room was empty.

"Ya know," the good doctor started, "I have really awful insomnia. Every time I sleep, I dream about her." He ran his hands through his hair again, anxiously. His voice was shaking and his left eye had started twitching slightly.

The doctor felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Amy standing over him. He stood instantly and walked toward her in shock. She backed away from him, leading him away from Zack.

"Amy." He said.

"I came back for you, Gordon." She said in a whisper, glancing over at Zack on the floor.

"I've missed you so much." Gordon said, tears coming to his eyes.

"I've missed you too. But you have to let him go, Gordon." She pleaded.

"What? No. I'm doing this for you, Amy. He was trying to steal you away from me."

"He can't steal me away. I'm right here. With you. Now let him go, Gordon. Please."

"No." Gordon stated, his voice becoming violent. He inched towards her, fists curled, eyes blazing.

"Let him go, Gordon." She said raising her voice, and matching his intensity, "Let ME GO!"

"NEVER!" he screamed, he stepped towards her, this time with intent and slapped her with all of his power, but his hand went right through her. She grinned at him, menace in her eyes. He suddenly realized that she wasn't actually there; his eyes grew wide as he looked at her.

She stepped towards him, the roles now reversed, he backed away from her. With a flick of her hand he was on his back feeling the cold concrete that he had subjected Zack to for the past number of hours. Amy gathered the bottom of her nightgown in her hands, straddled the doctors chest and bent down to meet him face to face. They were inches apart from each other. She looked at him with amusement, like he was a play toy. His breathing had gotten heavier and it was clear that he was scared of her; frightened.

She moved her face even closer to his, making sure she had his full attention. She whispered to him so softly that Zack could just barely hear what she said, "You can't hit me anymore." A smile came to her face; she had won.

Before any more could be said, the door to the boiler room swung open. Amy looked up and then disappeared, leaving Gordon Freidman on the floor.


	26. Chapter 26

**This is the last 'chapter', but there is an epilouge of sorts that comes after this. Thank you so much for being amazing reviewers. You guys are so supporting and uplifting for a writer and it is an unbelievable how nuturing you are to each others writing on this website. That is a really wonderful thing. You're all amazing and thank you for reading!**

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Booth was lost in his thoughts. He was driving with no destination in mind. Booth knew that Freidman could be anywhere and there was no guarantee that they would find Zack in time.

Brennan looked over at him from her passenger seat. She could tell that he was angry. She felt hopeless. After Zack had been taken in to the asylum, she just wanted to forget all about him. Forget that he even existed, but now, with the revelation of a murder at the hospital and Zack's disappearance, it was being shoved in her face. Every time she closed her eyes she could see his innocent face staring back at her. She kept seeing the image of him being interviewed by her for his position at the Jeffersonian. A wide-eyed, goofy looking boy with a pinched smile on his face; it killed her.

She wanted to scream out loud, but decided against it considering Booth would most likely swerve off the road. Instead, she drew air into her lungs and hoped that when she exhaled, all of her on edge emotions would vacate as well.

Booth cleared his throat and glanced at his partner, "We need to figure out where he could be."

Brennan shook her head slowly, "There is any number of places that he could have taken Zack. There is no way of knowing. There are infinite possibilities. He isn't a serial killer, so it's not like he has a pattern to follow."

Booth nodded his head, "Let's go back to the hospital, maybe there is something in his office that will help us." Booth turned on his sirens and drove back to the asylum, both of them holding their breath the entire way there.

Booth and Brennan had managed to convince the nurses to let them into Doctor Freidman's office on the basis of probable cause. They had been digging around in files and drawers trying to find something, anything that would lead them to where Freidman had taken Zack.

"I feel like this should be much easier than it is." Booth remarked sifting through files and personal documents that were scattered across the man's desk.

"I know what you mean," Brennan said, opening up a drawer in a metal filing cabinet, "You know. I'm surprised that no one had noticed anything… off about this doctor. His office is a mess, his handwriting," she said flipping open a file, "is absolutely atrocious."

Booth looked up at her, "It's a stereotype, Bones. Doctors have bad hand writing."

"That isn't what I meant, Booth. Hand writing can portray the inner workings of the psyche. There is a whole field on deciphering hand writing and what it says about people."

"Sounds like psychology to me." He said, laughing and sitting down in Freidman's office chair.

Brennan glared at Booth for the implication and went back to the drawer. The air conditioning in the room kicked on with a loud bang and startled Booth out of the chair and Brennan laughed at his reaction.

Brennan closed the drawer with a sigh and walked toward the desk. On her way, she noticed a small glass container sitting at the edge. She snapped on a latex glove and picked it up, "Flunitrazepam." she said looking up at Booth.

"What does that mean?" Booth asked, realizing that it had some relevance that he could not pick up on.

"Booth, he drugged Zack in order to take him."

"Still not sure what that means, Bones. You're going to have to spell it out for me."

"This is drug causes muscle relaxation. If he were going outside of the hospital, he would need Zack conscious because he would be too heavy to carry. If Zack was drugged, he couldn't have taken him very far without raising suspicion."

"So you're saying that Zack is still in the hospital?"

"That is exactly what I am saying, Booth."

"He's in the boiler room. It's the only place they could be." Booth said jogging to the door, Brennan right behind him.

They ran through the hallways, past the nurses and patients who were taken aback by the urgency that was coursing through their bodies. Booth reached the door of the boiler room and swung it open while pulling his gun out of his holster.

"Freeze! FBI!" he said, looking down into the abyss of darkness. He could saw three people in the basement, one of which had vanished before his eyes. He brushed it off and ran down the rickety metal steps that led into the boiler room. Brennan had reached the door and searched for a light switch which he promptly found, flooding the room with harsh light. Booth held his gun, aiming it at the doctor who was outstretched on the floor. He was stunned. Booth could tell that something other than being caught had affected him, but he didn't care, "Get on your knees and put your hands behind your head."

Brennan had made it down the stairs and immediately went to Zack to make sure that he was okay. She helped him sit up and was checking for any injuries.

"Doctor Brennan," Zack said, "I'm not sure that I am capable of walking yet. The drugs haven't completely worn off yet."

Brennan looked at him with sadness in her eyes, "It's okay, Zack." She comforted, her voice cracking in the process.

Without hesitation, he pulled her into a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder and hugged him back, glad that he was okay, glad that he was alive and glad that he was with her now.

Booth had the doctor hand cuffed and was calling the bureau to inform them of all that had gone on, and for a forensics team to collect the body of Amelia Webber who was propped up against the wall behind Zack.

"Where is the other guy?" Booth asked Zack.

Zack looked at him, slightly confused as to who he was referring to, "There was no other guy." He stated.

"Yes there was, he was with Freidman when I opened the door."

"That wasn't a guy, Agent Booth. That was my hallucination." He said with a grin on his face.

Booth tilted his head, attempting to understand the information that Zack had just relayed to him. Brennan pulled away from Zack and looked in his eyes, also curious about the statement.

"I'm not sure I understand." She said, looking back at Booth.

Zack shifted slightly, noticing some feeling coming back in one of his legs, "It's going to sound crazy, but since I am a patient in a mental health facility, I'm not worried about it." He said with his grin growing wider, "That was Amelia Webber."

Booth rolled his eyes, "In all the time I've known you, I always thought that you had no sense of humor."

When the forensics team arrived, they gathered all of the evidence that they needed and Booth and Brennan had managed to get Zack upstairs into the common room so that they could take his statement. Brennan had called Angela to inform her of all of the facts and to let her know that Zack was safe. Within the hour, Angela and Hodgins had both arrived to make sure for themselves that he was indeed okay.

Five people sat around the metal table in the common room that sat across from the window that Zack had stared out of everyday. Five people were conversing and making up for lost time since they had last seen their friend and colleague. They sat there for hours, avoiding the nurses' pleas to send the patient to bed. The FBI agent had told them that they were still questioning him, even though they had finished that task minutes after vacating the boiler room. They sat around the table laughing with one another, sharing old stories, reminiscing about wood chipped pigs and beetle races and things that two of the five 'don't know what that means'.

All of them noticed the dramatic change in Zack. They knew that he was going to be okay. They found comfort in finding their old friend rather than the cold distant version that had come back to them from Iraq.

Soon the couple and the partners left leaving Zack sitting at the metal table. He rubbed the edges of it, watching the oil from his finger tip leave patterns on the surface. He let out a breath of relief, breathing out the days events that had almost cost him his life. He stood to leave and pushed his chair underneath the table and looked out of the window that he had grown so fond of. And in the distance, he saw a girl dressed in white, walking barefoot across the lawn outside of the hospital. He smiled to himself and finally went to bed.


	27. Chapter 27

**Short, sweet and to the point. I'm not sure what is going on with Chapter 23 and why it isn't working. I took a look at it and tried to reload it, but no go. If you are reading this story and want chapter 23, message me and I will send it to you, because it is important to the story!**

**Thank you all for being such amazing readers. I've really enjoyed writing this story and I loooove me some Zach fluff! haha. **

**I don't know if there will be a sequel to this, quite honestly I don't know how there can be. Amy peaced out and Zach is a better person because of her; all goals have been accomplished. **

**If you have any ideas for a sequel, send them on over, but I really have to find or think of something that strikes up divine intervention to write another one of these.**

**Anyways, thanks again for being amazing. Check out my other fic, "Cheerman in the Woods" if you get a chance. **

**Love always,**

**SimOph52**

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It had been weeks since he had been kidnapped by the doctor. While he found relief in the fact that he was no longer holding the secret of the murder, he found a small emptiness in himself being completely purposeless.

He had found ways of keeping himself busy, like building a 1/34" scale model of the Golden Gate Bridge out of plastic spoons and teaching himself the art of origami, but those tasks only kept him busy for days, and he had a lot more time to spend cooped up in this hospital.

They hired a new psychiatrist who was far more tidy that Freidman and whom Zack liked more as well. His treatment had been going well and the doctor couldn't grasp the concept of why Zack had been placed here. There was nothing psychologically wrong with him, so instead of treating him, they would have philosophical and mechanical debates that had anyone overheard their conversation, they most likely would have sounded like they were speaking a different language.

Zack strolled into the common room after having a particularly invigorating discussion with the doctor and walked toward his table. As he approached the table, he noticed something sitting on top of it. His curiosity had gotten the better of him and he quickened his pace to observe the object.

It was a book. He picked it up ran his hand over the cover. The pages smelled sweet as he ran his thumb over the end of the book and quickly flipped through the pages. He turned the book over and read the title, 'Ghosts'.

He smiled and sat down at the table and opened the book to the first page.


End file.
